Intense raids in Syria as Russia floats coordination with US

Beirut:  Russian warplanes carried out intense new strikes in Syria on Wednesday as Moscow said it could coordinate its raids with the US-led coalition bombing Islamic State group jihadists.

The new Russian strikes were accompanied for the first time by a Syrian army ground operation that prompted fierce clashes with rebels in the central province of Hama, a monitoring group said. [caption id=“attachment_2458624” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Russia began air strikes in Syria a week ago in a campaign that has raised tensions with Turkey, which accuses Moscow of violating its airspace on at least two occasions. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned on Wednesday that his country would not compromise on its border security. “We will not make any concessions in the context of our border and airspace security,” Davutoglu said. The Turkish military also said its fighter jets had been harassed during a third airspace violation on Monday by a MIG-29 plane from an unidentified country. Moscow says its air campaign was launched at the request of Syria’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad and is targeting the Islamic State group (IS). But moderate and Islamist rebels and their international backers accuse Moscow of targeting a range of armed opponents of the regime, not just jihadists. Regime attack during Russia raids Overnight and on Wednesday morning, Russian strikes hit several areas of Hama province, as well as Idlib province in the northwest and Aleppo province in the north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitoring group said the strikes were accompanied for the first time by a ground operation by government troops and allied militia in Hama province. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said government forces had launched an attack as Russian planes bombed the area. “There was also heavy use of surface-to-surface shelling by the regime in the province,” he added. He said regime forces had not yet been able to advance and that the Army of Conquest, a rebel alliance that controls neighbouring Idlib province and includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, was sending reinforcements to counter the assault. The Observatory also reported several Russian strikes in the northwest of Aleppo province, including one on Wednesday morning that it said killed two women and a child. Syrian state television also reported that Russian planes had carried out strikes in Aleppo in coordination with Syrian aircraft, saying IS positions had been targeted. Russia’s bombing campaign comes more than a year after a US-led coalition began air strikes against IS in Syria, and the number of nations flying sorties over the country has raised concern about possible military incidents. Russia said on Wednesday that it could implement US proposals to coordinate its strikes with the Washington-led coalition in a bid to minimise risks. “The Russian defence ministry has answered the demands of the Pentagon and is examining in depth American proposals on coordinating operations,” Russian news agencies quoted defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying. “On the whole, these proposals could be put in place,” he said. US and Russian officials held discussions last week – at Russia’s request – on a mechanism to avoid accidents between warplanes flying over Syria. Turkish anger over airspace Russia’s air campaign has already raised tensions with Turkey, after Ankara reported several alleged airspace violations by Russian aircraft. On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned “some undesirable steps have been taken and it does not befit Turkey to accept this.” “It is, of course, not possible to remain patient about this,” he added during a state visit to Belgium. Turkey is a NATO member, and the alliance has responded critically to the Russian violations, saying they appeared deliberate. Russia and Turkey have in recent years sought to step up cooperation, agreeing to build a new gas pipeline beneath the Black Sea and Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, while targeting $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2023. But they are at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking the overthrow of Assad while Moscow does everything to keep him in power. On Wednesday, Davutoglu accused Russia of targeting mostly non-jihadist rebel groups, not IS. He said only two out of 57 Russian strikes had hit the jihadist group. On Tuesday, Erdogan warned that Russia risked losing Turkey as a friend if its behaviour continued. “If Russia loses a friend like Turkey with whom it has a lot of cooperation, it is going to lose a lot of things. It needs to know this.” AFP