USA warns Russian Federation against striking non-IS groups in Syria

The Russian parliament on Wednesday unanimously granted President Vladimir Putin the right to deploy the country’s military in Syria, a move a top Kremlin aide said related only to the air force.

Syrian state television quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Russian warplanes have targeted ISIL positions in central Syria, including the areas of Rastan and Talbiseh, and areas near the town of Salamiyeh in Hama province.

Ramping up The White House said it was too early to tell which targets Russian military strikes were hitting but it was clear Moscow was ramping up support for President Bashar al-Assad.

Hours after Russian launched its first air strikes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Security Council meeting that Moscow would liaise with the US-led coalition of Western allies and regional states that has been flying missions for a year.

And then there’s this: Russian Federation, Syria, Iran and Iraq startled the United States when Iraq’s military announced the countries will being sharing security and intelligence in the fight against ISIS.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said there had been little co-ordination by Russian Federation with US-led forces against IS, also known as Isil. But it might fall well short of what would be needed to end Assad’s stalemate with rebel forces on the ground and protect him for the long term.

Mr Earnest said the new action “calls into question their strategy, because when President Putin and President Obama had the opportunity to meet at the United Nations earlier this week much of their discussion was focused on the need for a political transition inside Syria”.

“There has been a certain war of disinformation for a few time and everyone is trying to discredit each other”, Orlov said.

Putin had to request parliamentary approval for any use of Russian troops overseas, according to the constitution.

John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, said he would have “grave concern” if the strikes were not against IS and added that the terrorist group could not be defeated while Mr Assad remained in power. A French diplomatic source said Russia’s air strikes did not suggest Moscow was ready to do that, and said: “We can’t work (together) in these conditions”.

“We are fighting on the front lines against the regime, which had been bombing us for the previous year”, said Jamil Al-Saleh, the rebel group’s commander. The Syrian civil war, which grew out of an uprising against Assad, has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011 and sent millions of refugees fleeing to other countries in the Middle East and Europe.