Turkey, Coalition Partners, Call on Russia to Cease Syria Attacks

The number of fighter jets that are ready to participate in the airstrikes against the jihadi groups in Syria exceed 30 warplanes, the source said on condition of anonymity.

“From their perspective, they’re all terrorists”, he said.

Western countries and Russian Federation say they have a common enemy in Islamic State.

Several rebel groups around Talbiseh operate under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army, and a few have received military support from Western and Gulf Arab states that oppose President Bashar al-Assad.

“As a result of our air strikes on Islamic State targets, we have managed to disrupt their control system, the terrorist organisation’s supply lines, and also caused significant damage to the infrastructure used to prepare acts of terror”, the ministry said.

“President Obama was clear that we intend to continue our efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL in Syria and to keep supporting the moderate Syrian opposition”, the official said.

The joint statement adds new emphasis to global concern about Russia’s true aims in Syria – and whether it is concerned primarily with attacking ISIS or with propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and protecting its military base in Syria.

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

RUSSIA’S intervention in Syria will curtail the spread of terrorism and help deal a fatal blow to Islamic State in the war-torn country, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Saturday.

At a White House news conference, Obama frequently assailed Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of acting out of a position of weakness to defend a crumbling, authoritarian ally.

In the Hama suburb of Habeet, an airstrike at around 8:30 pm local time killed three civilians, including a 5-year-old girl, and injured 12 others, according to opposition activist Hadi al-Abdullah.

The Syria campaign comes at a low point in Russia’s relations with the West, a year after the United States and European Union imposed financial sanctions on Moscow for annexing territory from Ukraine.

However Khaled Khoja, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said that Russian airstrikes had killed 36 civilians, with five children among the dead.

The Pentagon is grappling with whether the USA should use military force to protect US trained and equipped Syrian rebels now that they may be the targets of Russian airstrikes.