Putin raises the bar in the war in Libya with an escalation of raids from Russian ships in the Caspian. The Russian attack this morning hit the Syrian province of Hama and neighboring areas in the west of the country. This was revealed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding that there have been heavy bombings with surface-to-surface missiles.
Since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Syria, "112 IS targets" have been hit, said Russian Defense Minister Serghiei Shoigu: "In the last 48 hours after intense work of different types of reconnaissance, numerous and different targets of the IS: these are command points, ammunition and war material depots and militia training camps. To hit them – the minister specified – in addition to aviation, we used the ships of the Caspian fleet”.
Turkish premier Ahmet Davutoglu criticized Moscow's intervention: “According to the military information we have received, Russia has conducted 57 air operations, of which 55 against the moderate opposition to Bashar al Assad and only 2 against Daesh”, i.e. against Isis.
The US front is also strongly critical. While Putin says he is ready for an agreement with the United States for joint warfare against terrorism, the White House rejects the offer: “Russia is following a wrong strategy. By hitting targets that are not just ISIS they are making a mistake,” said US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, underlining that the US “will not collaborate with Russia as long as they continue to pursue these objectives”.
