Russia Increases Number of Airstrikes Against ISIS Targets in Syria

Russia has intensified airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria, its defense ministry has announced.

The ministry said on October 10 that it had hit 55 ISIS targets in Syria in the last 24 hours.

Later, US defense officials said progress had been made during talks with their Russian counterparts on avoiding accidents over Syria.

Syrian rebels and Western governments say Russia has mainly been hitting non-ISIS targets.

The US has accused Russia of running a “fundamentally flawed” campaign in Syria that risks further escalating the conflict there.

On October 10, the Russian military said that the most recent airstrikes – carried out in the provinces of Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa and Idlib – destroyed 29 “terrorist” training camps as well as 23 defensive positions, two command centers and an ammunition depot.

To explain the intensified strikes it cited “a significant increase in the number of ground targets” located by air-based and space-based reconnaissance teams across Syria.

While Raqqa in eastern Syria is an ISIS stronghold, the militants are not known to be strong in the other provinces.

“In the initial stage of our operation, our aircraft destroyed the principal and largest logistical hubs of the ISIS terrorist group,” the Russian defense ministry statement said.

“This has led to a significant reduction in the fighting potential of armed groups, and a reduction in their mobility and their capacity to launch offensives.”

Russia maintains that rebel fighters are running short of arms, ammunition and fuel, leading many rebels to abandon their combat positions and head for the country’s east and north-east.

There have been concerns that there could be an accidental clash as the two countries pursue separate bombing campaigns over Syria.

The US and its NATO allies have expressed alarm at violations of Turkish air space by Russian jets last weekend.

On October 10, officials at the Department of Defense said they had held a conference call of around 90 minutes on air safety during Syria bombing campaigns.

“The discussions were professional and focused narrowly on the implementation of specific safety procedures,” a spokeswoman said, adding that another discussion would take place in the near future.