Syrian rebels face onslaught from Iran over next 48 hours

It comes as President Vladimir Putin prepares to discuss Russia’s involvement in Syria’s civil war with his German and French counterparts in one-on-one meetings.

The Observatory’s head, Rami Abdulrahman, said one of the targets hit in the latest Russian air strikes, the town of Dar Tazzah in northwestern Aleppo province, was controlled by a number of insurgent groups including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

“The opponents to Bashar are very close to Daesh (ISIL)”, Pushkov said amid allegations by U.S. sources who have said the Russians actually hit facilities of a US-backed group, a few of whose militants received training and support from the Central Intelligence Agency.

A group of CIA-trained rebels said it was bombed by Russian forces during a second day of strikes.

But it was concern over the potential of Moscow to focus on groups other than ISIL that prompted a response Friday from a U.S.-led coalition, which also carries out airstrikes in the strife-torn country, calling on Moscow to immediately cease attacks on Syria’s opposition.

“These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalisation”, said the statement.

They said in a statement they are especially concerned about “attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs and Idlib since yesterday (Thursday) which led to civilian casualties and did not target Da’esh (IS)”.

“Iran and Assad make up Mr. Putin’s coalition at the moment”.

The Prime Minister has been expected to extend British air strikes from Iraq into Syria, where a few members of the US-led coalition are already active, for a few time.

– Reuters/Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation handout pictage released by Russia’s Defence Ministry October 2, 2015, shows smoke rising after airstrikes carried out by Russian air force in Maarat al-Numan in Syria.

He added that the USA had only “pretended” to bomb IS, and promised that Russia’s campaign would be much more effective.

With the danger growing that Russian and United States planes could collide or even engage militarily in the skies above Syria, the Pentagon and Russian officials held what the Americans said were “cordial and professional” discussions on Thursday in a bid to avoid mishaps.

The Kremlin has denied reports that a few of its strikes earlier in the week had killed at least 36 civilians, including five children.

“What I’d like to see people ask is, ‘Specifically, precisely-what exactly is it you would do, and how would you fund it?”