The presidents of Russia and France, which both started bombing Syria this week, yesterday held talks about their military operations as they tried to overcome differences on whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should stay in power.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Francois Hollande met in Paris after a week of frenzied international activity around Syria that finally broke into yesterday’s meeting, which was supposed to have been only about Ukraine.
A senior French diplomat said the two leaders tried to bridge the differences over an eventual political transition in Syria, as well as talking about the airstrikes by Russia and the US-led coalition, and protecting civilians.
The talks come at a time of tension and mistrust between Russia and the West.
Al-Assad is Russia’s main ally in the Middle East, while France is firmly opposed to his rule. French airstrikes are targeting Islamic State (IS) extremists as part of a US-led coalition; Russia says it is also targeting extremists, but Western officials say Moscow is using the air campaign as a pretext to go after anti-al-Assad rebels.
The two countries are not officially “coordinating” their airstrikes, but inform each other to avoid problems, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Russia’s airstrikes have spurred discussions in the Pentagon about whether the US should use military force to protect Syrian rebels trained and equipped by the US if they come under fire by the Russians. The Pentagon on Thursday had its first conversation with Russian officials in an effort to avoid any unintended US-Russian confrontations.
Russian fighter jets have kept up a sustained rhythm of airstrikes since Wednesday. They carried out 18 sorties in the past 24 hours, including 10 overnight in which seven sites were bombed, the Russian Ministry of Defense said yesterday.
Activists say the Islamic State group did not hold Friday prayers in several mosques in its de facto capital of al-Raqqah in northern Syria, fearing Russian airstrikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a drone carried out an airstrike on an IS-run camp near al-Raqqah yesterday. It had no word on casualties.
Putin later also met German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Allies in the US-led coalition have called on Russia to immediately cease attacks on the Syrian opposition and to focus on fighting IS militants. A joint statement by France, Turkey, the US, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Britain expressed concern that Russia’s actions will “only fuel more extremism and radicalization.” .
Russian Minister of ForeSergey Lavrov on Thursday rejected suggestions that the airstrikes were meant to shore up al-Assad.
Lavrov insisted Russia was targeting the same militant groups as the US-led coalition, which is conducting its own airstrikes in Syria: the Islamic State, the al-Qaeda-linked Jabbat al-Nusra and other groups.
The Russian defense ministry statement said the latest wave of airstrikes targeted only IS and destroyed a command post near Daret Azzeh in the Aleppo region and hit a field camp near Maaret al-Numan in the Idlib region, wiping out bunkers and weapons stores.
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