Britain: Only 5 Percent of Russian Airstrikes Targeting IS
Voice of America
Only 5 percent of Russia's airstrikes in Syria have targeted Islamic State extremists, Britain's defense chief said Saturday, as Moscow's four-day-old aerial bombing campaign continues despite Western concerns.
In an interview with the Sun newspaper, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said most of the Russian bombs have instead targeted other Syrian rebel groups, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, and were killing civilians.
"We're analyzing where the strikes are going every morning," said Fallon. "The vast majority are not against IS at all."
"Our evidence indicates they are dropping unguided munitions in civilian areas, killing civilians, and they are dropping them against Free Syrian forces fighting (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad," Fallon added. "He's shoring up Assad and perpetuating the suffering."
Russia this week began dropping bombs in Syria, saying its main target was the Islamic State organization. However, many of the initial raids hit U.S.-backed Syrian rebel groups, according to Western officials and locals on the ground.
Obama: No Proxy War
On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama insisted the conflict is not going to become a "proxy war" between Washington and Moscow, even as the two countries conduct airstrikes on different groups inside Syria.
"This is not some superpower chessboard contest," Obama said at a White House news conference.
At the same time, he was critical of Russia's military engagement in Syria, calling it a "recipe for disaster."
"(Russian President Vladimir Putin) had to go into Syria not out of strength, but out of weakness because his client, (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) was crumbling and it was insufficient for him (Putin) to send him arms and money. Now, he's got to put in his own planes and his own pilots."
Obama noted that the Russians do not distinguish between Islamic State militants "and a moderate Sunni opposition that wants to see Assad go. From their perspective, they're all terrorists."
The president said this lack of distinction will have consequences for the Syria that emerges from the conflict, because the moderates will be needed to help run the country.
Nor does Obama think that Putin's strategy is a very popular one: "Iran and Assad make up Putin's coalition at the moment. The rest of the world makes up ours. I don't think people are fooled by the current strategy."
Obama said the U.S. will continue its current policies of attacking Islamic State, supporting Syrian moderates and working with the Turks along the border – and above all, seeking a political solution, which he said will “not be easy” but is “still possible."
More Airstrikes
The Russian Defense Ministry said its warplanes flew 14 missions on Friday, hitting six Islamic State targets.
The ministry said the strikes destroyed an IS bomb-making facility near the city of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province. He also said an IS underground command post in Hama province was hit.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Friday that Russian strikes in Raqqa province Thursday killed 12 IS fighters.
A U.S.-led coalition urged Moscow to halt any attacks on the Syrian opposition and focus on Islamic State targets.
"These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization," said the coalition statement, posted on the Turkish Foreign Ministry's website.
The coalition that includes U.S., Britain, Turkey, France, Germany, Qatar and Saudi Arabia has been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets for about a year.
In a comment clearly aimed at the coalition airstrikes, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday that airstrikes "are useless unless they are conducted in cooperation with the Syrian army, the only force in Syria that is combating terrorism."
Working Toward a Political Solution
Russian President Putin, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed Syria during a peace summit on Ukraine Friday.
Hollande said afterward that he told Putin Russian airstrikes must target Islamic State and only Islamic State.
In his speech Friday at the U.N. General Assembly, Syrian Foreign Minister Moualem said his government would participate in U.N. working groups to reach a peace deal, but also said it could not implement democratic reforms related to elections or the constitution while "fighting terrorism."