US Airs Concerns On Russian Airstrikes In Syria

A second round of airstrikes in Syria was mounted by Russia recently. Russia also had a videoconference with Pentagon officials amid accusations from the White House that the areas targeted by Moscow had a small number of Islamic State militants. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia revealed at the UN that his country is seeing “eye-to-eye” with the US-led coalition on the targets of the airstrikes. He denied claims that Russia was supporting President Bashar Assad by targeting Syrian opposition groups.

Lavrov said Russia is targeting the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and other terror groups, which are also targeted by the US-led coalition. The announcement comes amid an increase in charges and countercharges.

He said they will target the same terrorist groups targeted by the United States.

Josh Earnest, spokesman for the White House said the conflict will become indefinite with the involvement of Russia in Syria. However, the discussions were conducted between the United States and Russia for “de-conflicting” to prevent clashes. He added that the representative of the United States in the videoconference, Elissa Slotkin, indicated that the military operations of Russia resulted to concerns since the targeted areas had a small number of ISIL militants.

Image of Russian airstrike in Syria - image credit: usatoday.com

The airstrikes in Syria conducted by Russia were “indiscriminate military operations” against opposition groups in Syria, Earnest said. He also said the operations were dangerous since it may prolong the sectarian conflict in the country. Twelve Islamic State targets were reportedly destroyed by the airstrikes.

US military spokesman in Baghdad, Colonel Steve Warren, said while the Islamic State was the intended target of Russia, initial airstrikes in Syria targeted areas where opposition forces were based. He said they do not believe that ISIS targets were struck. The airstrikes of Russia will have no effect on the daily air campaign of the US-led coalition and operations were not changed, Warren said.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said a number of the airstrikes of Russia targeted groups trained by the CIA to fight the regime of Assad. McCain revealed he can confirm that the airstrikes were aimed at the Free Syrian Army or other groups trained and armed by the CIA since they communicate with them. Revels fighting the regime of Assad were trained and armed by the CIA since 2013.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, said aside from the Islamic State, other groups were being targeted by Russia. Peskov said the groups are well-known and were selected in coordination with the Syrian armed forces. Putin rejected reports of civilian deaths in the airstrikes, saying these charges were “information attacks.”

The policy of Russia in Syria was described as “ill-advised” and “doomed to fail” by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. The Defense Ministry of Russia said they carried out a total of twenty airstrikes in Syria.

Posted by James Fried on Friday October 02 2015, 7:15 PM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0