Posted on 09/30/2015 6:47:37 PM PDT by markomalley
Amid reports that Russia’s first airstrikes in Syria had not struck Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) positions but those of other anti-Assad elements, Secretary of State John Kerry met again with his Russian counterpart Wednesday and repeated U.S. concerns about exactly what was being targeted.
“It is one thing obviously to be targeting ISIL – we’re concerned obviously if that is not what is happening,” Kerry said after the talks, speaking alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Kerry told reporters he had reiterated concerns he had stated during a U.N. Security Council meeting on counterterrorism earlier in the day – “concerns that we have obviously about the nature of the targets, the type of targets and the need for clarity with respect to them.”
During the Security Council meeting, Kerry had said the U.S. was ready to welcome Russian efforts if they reflected “a genuine commitment to defeat” ISIS and al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, especially Jabhat al-Nusra.
“We would have grave concerns should Russia strike areas where ISIL and al-Qaeda-affiliated targets are not operating,” he said. “Strikes of that kind would question Russia’s real intentions, fighting ISIL or protecting the Assad regime.”
Lavrov said Russia has started military operations “at the request of the Syrian government.”
He said he and Kerry had agreed to establish a channel of military-to-military communications “to avoid any unintended incidents.” Those talks could begin as early as Thursday, Kerry said.
Both men said the U.S. and Russia agreed on the goal of a Syria that is democratic, united, secular, “but we have some differences as for the details on how to get there,” Lavrov said.
The two would take back certain ideas to their presidents for further discussion.
“We also agreed that it is imperative to find a solution to this conflict, and to avoid escalating it in any way or seeing it intensified by forces beyond anybody’s control.”
Lavrov and Kerry did not take questions. In his comments, the Russian did not refer to airstrike targets, but Russia’s defense ministry reported “high accuracy strikes against international terrorist organization ISIS.”
It said eight facilities, including munition stores and command and communication posts, as well as combat vehicles, had been attacked, and that an ISIS headquarters in the mountains had been “completely destroyed.”
The Assad regime’s SANA news agency, citing military officials, said that airstrikes had hit “ISIS dens … achieving direct hits and inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorist organization.”
But Defense Secretary Ashton Carter questioned that, telling reporters at the Pentagon that it appeared Russian airstrikes had occurred “in areas where there probably was – were not ISIL forces” but where other groups were “present.”
Carter warned that such actions would “inflame the civil war,”
“By supporting Assad and thereby seemingly taking on everyone who is fighting Assad, you’re taking on the whole rest of the country of Syria,” he said. “That is not our position. At least some parts of the anti-Assad opposition belong in the political transition going forward.”
Skepticism also came from the French government, which early this week joined the U.S.-led air campaign against ISIS in Syria for the first time.
“Russia is bombing the rebels fighting Assad not ISIS,” French Ambassador to the U.S. Gerard Araud tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. “Russia used ISIS as a pretext for supporting a weakened Assad.”
Washington Institute for Near East Policy visiting fellow Fabrice Balanche reported [1] that the first wave of Russian airstrikes had not targeted ISIS.
He said one of the identified targets, a village called Talbisah near Homs, is in an area where no ISIS fighters are present, but where local rebels either remained independent, or had pledged allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra, or to another rebel group, Ahrar al-Sham.
(Ahrar al-Sham, a significant Salafist group that enjoys support from Turkey, has actually been fighting against ISIS since at least late 2013, although it does also have links to al-Qaeda/al-Nusra.)
Another target of the Russian strikes was a location near Mehardeh, “a small Christian city in Hama province that is under threat from Jabhat al-Nusra,” wrote Balanche. “Mehardeh is loyal to Assad because its Christian population is surrounded by large Sunni-majority communities.”
“For those who oppose the Assad regime, the message is clear: the new ‘antiterrorist’ coalition of Russia, Iran, Iraq, and Damascus has just swung into action,” he said. “Moscow has entered Syria to hit not just Da’esh [ISIS], but all groups it regards as terrorists, including those supported by the Gulf monarchies and Turkey.”
He’d be OK with it if those SU 25’s were burning JP-Ethanol.
Jane Fonda and John Kerry cannot disappear from this planet fast enuf for me.
Where has Putin said these things?
Kerry is concerned. Whew!!! Now we can all relax, it is being handled.
Exactly.
I don’t see kerry and Obummy concerned that Turkey isn’t just going after ISIS. So why be so concerned about the Russians?
I believe I am correct in saying the ones the Russians attacked in Syria, although US allies, are also the ones who have been attacking Syrian Christians. If so - may Russia keep it up!!
Russia “not targeting ISIS” is just a story line fed by the WHITEHUT. Russia HAS TO TARGET ISIS TO REGAIN Syrian TERRITORY.
Syrian REBELS are now virtually non-existent and have either left or joined Islamist groups fighting with ISIS who ARE taking Syria and Iraq.
When the former SecDef, scores of intelligence professionals, top active and retired military say the US is doing nothing and the regime admits that they don't have a strategy, well...
They are floundering. Their plan for isis to control Syria and Iraq is in jeopardy.
Hey Hanoi boi! Ya think?!
Why the long face, Mr Secretariat?
Obama uses words like “obviously,” or “clearly,” as a tic when he is obviously lying. Perhaps Kerry does too. Clearly they both love this country. This is obviously not a joke.
#StopPutin
Patrick Goodenough!? Goodenough?
I could see our fairy in chief starting a war with Russia and China over this. He is that vain and stupid.
SHHHHH! The unwashed masses aren’t supposed to know that?
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