United States warns Russian Federation against striking non-IS groups in Syria

Fabius said any air strikes must target IS and other “terrorist groups, not civilians or the moderate opposition”.

Russian Federation launched air strikes in Syria on Wednesday and claimed they were targeting the so-called Islamic State.

But its initial attacks were on pockets of land held by other rebel groups and surrounded by territory loyal to President Bashar Assad – miles away from any Islamic State stronghold.

Moscow’s assertion that it had hit Islamic State militants was immediately disputed by the United States and rebels on the ground.

Kerry said the USA would not object to Russian military action against Islamic State or al-Qaida. Russian Federation has been steadily sending more military aircraft to Latakia, regarded as an Assad stronghold, after Syrian regime suffered a series of battlefield reverses.

Even without an agreement on de-confliction, Carter said USA and coalition airstrikes in Syria would not be impacted by Russian launches.

ISIL controls parts of Homs province, including the historic town of Palmyra.

Saudi Arabia’s United Nations ambassador, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, accused the Russian air strikes of targeting areas where IS fighters were not present and leaving “many innocent victims”.

“The Russians struck northern Homs today and killed 36 innocent people…who fought against extremism”, said Khaled Khoja, head of the National Coalition, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups. The claim could not be independently verified. “We are acting transparently”.

‘That’s what we would encourage Russian Federation to do, ‘ she said.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said he had told military officials to meet Russian counterparts “as soon as possible” to discuss ways to make sure they do not come into conflict. “The USA must reject Russia’s interference and rally our partners to do the same”.

A high-ranking Russian officer there notified a United States military official at the US Embassy in Baghdad, the USA official said.

The diplomatic source said it was in line with Russia’s stance since 2012 that until there was a viable alternative to Mr Assad, Moscow would not drop its support for him in the war that began in 2011 after a government crackdown on anti-Assad protests.

Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama clashed over Syria in speeches at the UN General Assembly on September 28, with Obama saying that Washington was willing to work with Russian Federation to bring an end to the conflict in Syria but that any resolution to the war must include a “managed transition” away from Assad.