Russia hits targets in Syria for 2nd day
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RUSSIAN jets carried out a second day of strikes in Syria yesterday, with some activists claiming the targets included rebels backed by the United States.
Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said in televised comments that Russian aircraft damaged or destroyed 12 targets belonging to the Islamic State group including a command center and two ammunition depots. Officials acknowledged, however, that other unidentified groups were being targeted.
Konashenkov said Russian Su-25M and Su-25 jets made 20 sorties between Wednesday and yesterday morning, and insisted that civilian areas were not targeted.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes in the central province of Hama hit locations of US-backed rebel group Tajamu Alezzah. It said Tajamu Alezzah was also targeted the day before.
Russia’s air campaign in support of Syrian government forces began on Wednesday in what President Vladimir Putin called a “pre-emptive strike.”
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters yesterday that Russia was going after IS militants as well as a “list” of other groups.
“These organizations are well known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria,” he said.
Asked yesterday whether Putin was satisfied with the way the Russian campaign was going, Peskov said it was “too early” to say.
In Paris, Russian Ambassador Alexander Orlov insisted Russian warplanes in Syria were hitting at the same extremists targeted by the US and denied American claims its military failed to coordinate the airstrikes, describing the allegations as a “war of disinformation.”
Orlov said the targets were installations for Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria.”
The Syrian civil war, which grew out of an uprising against President Bashar Assad, has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011 and sent millions of refugees fleeing to other countries.
Khaled Khoja, head of the Syrian National Council opposition group, said at the UN yesterday that Russian airstrikes had killed 36 civilians, including five children.
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