PHOTO: Palmyra in central Syria, occupied by Islamic State since late May

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As Russia steps up its military intervention, the Assad regime has begun sustained airstrikes on the Islamic State in the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria.

A local activist said that all but a few dozen residents have fled Palmyra, famed for its Roman-era buildings. Unconfirmed claims say that more than 100 civilians and Islamic State fighters have been killed since last Friday, including 32 in attacks on Tuesday.

The Syrian military has been in a sustained ground battle with the Islamic State since May, when the militants swept through eastern Homs Province and took Palmyra. The Syrian air force has operated near the city, including in a battle for the nearby Jazal oilfield, but attacks on Palmyra itself have been limited.

“We’re going into the third day of indiscriminate air strikes, missiles and barrel bombs,” Khaled al-Homsi, a member of the Palmyra Coordination activist group, said on Wednesday night. “There are still a lot of ISIL fighters in the city, but they are now in retreat, in self-defence mode because of the airstrikes.”

Homsi said most residents had fled to towns to the east of Palmyra.

The Islamic State’s victory in May has been followed by a series of high-profile executions of soldiers and Government employees, including the internationally-renowned, director of antiquities, and destruction of Palmyra’s Roman buildings. In late August, both the Temples of Baal Shamin and Bel, dating from more than 2,000 years ago, were demolished by explosives.

The regime airstrikes support the Russian line that its intervention will help with the fight against the Islamic State. Unconfirmed reports on Wednesday said the Syrian military were moving to lift the long-time militant siege on the Kuweires airbase in Aleppo Province, assisted by Russian warplanes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said of the claims:

How can Twitter have reports about Russian warplanes and what they are doing in Syria? Just think of that!

I would not like to comment.

Turkey’s Erdoğan: Assad Can Take Part in Transition, But Must Step Aside When It’s Completed

Shifting Turkey’s position, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that President Assad can take part in the political transition in Syria.

However, Erdoğan continue to maintain that Assad must leave power when the transition is completed:

Either a transition process without al-Assad, or with al-Assad, is possible. But what is the required is the opposition….Nobody can foresee Syria’s future with al-Assad. It’s not possible to accept a person responsible for killing 300,000 to 350,000 people, a dictator.

Erdoğan was speaking after a Wednesday discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Despite his move toward Moscow’s call for Assad’s involvement in political talks, he said he “could not see a clear [perspective] in Russia’s approach to Syria.”

However, he said that the Turkish and Russian Foreign Ministers would launch a new working group on the Syrian crisis with Washington, “We have decided to work on this issue at the U.N. General Assembly as a group of three foreign ministers from the U.S., Turkey and Russia.”

He said Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as the European Union, Jordan, and Qatar, could be involved.

The Turkish President reiterated Ankara’s wish to create a “safe haven” in Syria, to be cleared of “terrorist organizations”. However, he gave no indication how the plan, put forward in July as agreed with the US, could be implemented — especially after Russia’s escalation of military intervention this month.

Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, With Fighters from Caucasus, Pledges Allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra

Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, a faction in which fighters from the North Caucasus have been prominent, has pledged allegiance to the Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra.

JMA has maintained its distance from al-Nusra since it joined the fighting in Syria in 2012, as it pledged loyalty to the Caucasus Emirate rather than Al Qa’eda, to which al-Nusra is linked. However, with a recent change in leadership, JMA moved away from the Emirate.

JMA said in its statement:

We, Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, hereby announce our bay’ah to Jabhat al-Nusra, in order to unite in word and rally the ranks, and multiply the strength of the Mujahideen, and arouse the wrath of the enemies of the region.

JMA has mainly been involved in fighting in Aleppo Province. The movement also split in autumn 2013, when its founder, Abu Umar al-Shishani, joined the Islamic State.

See Syria Special: How Chechen Foreign Fighters Wound Up Fighting Each Other

Russian-Israeli Coordination Team Set Up for Military Interventions in Syria

A Russian-Israel coordination team has been set up to prevent accidental clashes in Syria, following the expansion of Moscow’s forces in the country.

The team will be headed by deputy armed forces chiefs and will hold its first meeting by October 5, an Israeli military officer said on Thursday.

In a discussion in Moscow on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on establish the team.

See Syria Daily, Sept 22: Russia Brings In More Warplanes, US and Israel Say “That’s OK”

An Israeli military officer said the talks with Moscow would focus on aerial operations in Syria and “electromagnetic coordination”, an apparent agreement not to scramble each other’s radio communications or radar-tracking systems and to identifying each other’s forces.

Israel and Russia will also coordinate over sea operations off Syria’s Mediterranean coast, the Israeli officer said.

Germany’s Merkel: Assad Should Be Involved in Political Talks

In a further sign of the success of Russia’s diplomatic-military initaitive, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that President Assad should be involved in talks about a political resolution in Syria.

“We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well,” Merkel told a press conference after an EU summit on the refugee crisis.

She said that the talks should be “not only with the United States of America and Russia, but [also] with important regional partners [like] Iran and Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia”.

Since June, Russia — joined by Assad’s ally Iran — have pressed for an international conference to endorse Assad’s stay in power during a political “transition”. The effort collapsed in August because of Saudi objections, but Moscow has revived it amid its escalating military intervention in Syria.

Earlier this month, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Assad could remain for “up to six months” during a transition. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and US Secretary of State John Kerry gave further support last week, with Kerry saying that Assad did not have to step down on “Day 1” or “Month 1” of discussions.

Senior US Official: We Don’t Know What Russia’s Intentions Are

Weeks after Russia built up warplanes, advanced armored vehicles, and troops in Syria, Politico carries a striking quote from a “senior Administration official”: “The reality is we need to know more about what their intentions are.”

Moscow has escalated its military intervention to prop up the Assad regime in the short-term against rebel and Islamic State advances. Russia also hopes to use the show of strength as leverage to get American and European acceptance of an international conference that would keep President Assad in power during a political “transition”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, following his discussions in the past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry and those of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu with American counterpart Ashton Carter:

I think that now the Americans are much more perceptive to the arguments we have been offering for the past several years.

After the conversation between Defense Minister [Sergey] Shoigu and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter both sides voiced encouraging assessments. I think they’ve become more perceptive to the objective situation.

Bouthaina Shaaban, an advisor to President Assad, echoed:

The current U.S. administration wants to find a solution to the crisis in Syria. There is a tacit agreement between the U.S. and Russia to reach this solution.

The U.S. recognizes now that Russia has profound knowledge of this region and a better assessment of the situation.

The current international climate is heading towards detente and towards a solution for the crisis in Syria.