PHOTO: French President François Hollande and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, December 2014
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In its latest PR move over Syria’s conflict, Russia has declared that France will cooperate with it in operations against the Islamic State.
The Kremlin announced that President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, François Hollande, had agreed in a telephone call to coordinate military attacks in Syria and will meet on November 26 in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow was already cooperating with Paris about the positioning of warships off the Syrian coast, as the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle — with Rafaie and Super Etendard strike aircraft on board — moved into the eastern Mediterranean:
It is true that Putin and Hollande raised the theme of interaction in carrying out military operations in Syria during their telephone conversation. Putin issued an instruction to establish such contacts in continuation of this agreement.
During a televised briefing for President Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared:
A massive airstrike is targeting ISIL [Islamic State] sites in Syrian territory. The number of sorties has been doubled, which makes it possible to deliver powerful pinpoint strikes upon ISIL fighters all throughout the Syrian territory.
The Russians declared at the start of their bombing campaign on September 30 that their focus was the Islamic State; however, more than 80% of attacks have been on opposition-held territory. The Russian attacks have supported six offensives by the Syrian military, five of them against rebels.
Moscow’s latest diplomatic tactic follows Friday’s Islamic State attacks in Paris which killed 129 people. On Monday, President Hollande told Congress that France is “at war” with ISIS and will destroy the movement.
The French Defense Ministry said that it had carried out more airstrikes on Tuesday, destroying two Islamic State command centers in Raqqa.
President Assad put out his own message to Paris on Tuesday, telling a French magazine:
We are ready to exchange intelligence with France if Paris changes its policy toward Syria and we have repeatedly called for an international coalition against terrorism.
If the French government is not serious in its fight against terrorism, we will not waste our time collaborating with a country, government or an institution that supports terrorism.
Obama: We Want to See Russia Focus on Islamic State
Encouragement of the Russian line came from US President Barack Obama, speaking in the Philippines on Tuesday.
Obama said he had “repeated discussions” with Putin about the two militaries working more closely together and continued:
The problem has been in their initial military incursion into Syria, they have been more focused on propping up President Assad. If in fact he shifts his focus and the focus of his military, to what is the principal threat, which is ISIL, then that is what we want to see.
US defense officials said on Tuesday that Russia had begun attacks with long-range bombers and cruise missiles on sites in Raqqa, the Islamic State’s central position in Syria, following the start of the French air campaign on Sunday night.
The airstrikes represent the first significant effort by Russia to target Islamic State after announcing over the summer that it would fight the extremist group when it entered the fray in Syria.
The President indicated that co-operation, in addition to the fight against the Islamic State, would entail looking at a cease-fire. While noting that Russia had been “a constructive partner” during international talks in Vienna last week, Obama said that “the catch” is that “Moscow is still interested in keeping Assad in power”.
However, Kremlin spokesman Peskov took an even firmer line against Assad’s dpearture: “Russia’s position on al-Assad’s future is that no one can dictate whether Assad is to go or not. Assad’s future and the future of the Syrian government can be decided only by the Syrian people.”
At the Vienna discussions, Russia and Iran have held out against any mention of a timetable for the Syrian President giving up during a transition. Instead, Assad’s main allies favor early elections in which the President and his inner circle may be able to stand.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pressed the Americans in an interview on State TV, accusing Washington of playing a “dangerous game” with “sparing” attacks on the Islamic State:
“They want IS to weaken Assad as soon as possible to make him leave somehow, but at the same time they don’t want to overly strengthen IS, which may then seize power.”
Russian Airstrike Destroys Bakery Serving 120,000 in Aleppo Province
A journalist in Atareb in western Aleppo Province says a Russian airstrike has destroyed a bread oven that served an estimated 120,000 people.
Amer al-Faj said the oven, a secondary school, and the transportation directorate were struck near sunset on Tuesday in the town, 25 km (16 miles) west of Aleppo city.
The oven was “the largest in terms of size and production in the western Aleppo countryside”, al-Faj said. It was closed when it was struck, so only minor injuries were reported.
