USA and Russian Federation to Hold Talks on Air Safety in Syria

The European Union is pushing for an urgent political solution in Syria as the conflict spills over into Europe, with Germany alone expecting between 800,000 to 1 million asylum seekers, mainly from Syria and Iraq, by the end of the year.

President Barack Obama has not spoken about the Central Intelligence Agency program publicly, but he has said that Russian Federation risks slipping into a quagmire in Syria and is operating from a position of weakness.

Strikes also destroyed a command post of a “large IS group” in the vicinity of Deir Ezzor city, he claimed.

Srdja Trifkovic, a Serbian-American foreign affairs expert and editor with Chronicles magazine, told Russa Today: “The Russians with Syrian boots on the ground have done more to degrade Isis in less than 10 days than the USA did in more than a year of its half-hearted campaign”.

Russian SU-24M jet fighter armed with laser guided bombs takes off from a runaway at Hmeimim airbase in Syria. Insurgents fired two shells at the Russian embassy in the Syrian capital on Tuesday as hundreds of pro-government supporters gathered outside the compound to thank Moscow for its intervention in Syria. In that incident, pilots from both countries behaved appropriately and neither had to alter their course, he said.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren had said earlier that US-led warplanes and Russian ones came just “miles apart” over Syria. “This is the new reality for us strategically, but it looks like it’s here to stay”, he said. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group has also sent a fresh wave of fighters to Syria, he told The Associated Press.

“We are not prepared to cooperate in a strategy which as we explained is flawed, tragically flawed on Russia’s part”, said Carter on October 7.

“Things are coming into focus and people are choosing sides in a way that they haven’t had to before”, he said.

The government controls western areas of Aleppo city, and an array of insurgent groups control the east.

Meanwhile, Carter on Tuesday reiterated that the Pentagon had no plans to change its policy in Syria after Russian Federation started its own military campaign, but talks between the two militaries to de-conflict the airstrikes in Syria were vital.

The strikes have raised the ire of the Syrian rebels, as several rebel groups called on regional countries to form an alliance against the Russian-led coalition, according to a statement released last week.

Syria’s war began in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has since evolved into a complex multi-front battle involving the regime, rebels, jihadists and Kurds.