MOSCOW: Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria on Wednesday, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.
Russian warplanes carried out strikes in several Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Vladimir Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama´s thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Islamic State militants in
By AFP
September 30, 2015
MOSCOW: Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria on Wednesday, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.
Russian warplanes carried out strikes in several Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Vladimir Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama´s thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria.
But the United States said that Russian jets had targeted the Syrian opposition and not the IS group.
"We have not seen any strikes against ISIL," a US defence official said, referring to the IS group by an alternative name. "What we have seen is strikes against the Syrian opposition." France also raised doubts over whether the Russian raids were aimed at IS amid Western concerns that Moscow may be seeking to buttress Syria´s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters at the United Nations that there "were indications that the Russian strikes did not target" IS militants.
The Russian defence ministry had said earlier it launched surgical strikes against IS militants.
Putin, who earlier Wednesday got parliamentary permission to use force abroad, warned Moscow would be hunting down IS militants before they target Russia.
Putin also said Assad should be ready for compromise with the opposition.
"We are counting on his... readiness for compromise for the sake of his country and his people," Putin said.
He pledged that Russia would not get sucked into a protracted military operation in Syria and called on other countries to join an intelligence task force Moscow is setting up with Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Russia will also present a UN draft resolution to the Security Council on countering terrorism to build up the fight against IS, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Addressing the General Assembly for the first time in a decade, Putin on Monday proposed creating a UN-backed coalition to fight the militants.
Putin´s proposal is seen as a direct challenge to Obama who has vowed to crush IS.
