Russian President Vladimir Putin called the information on civilian casualties as a result of Russian air strikes in Syria an “information attack” and said that Russia was ready for such attacks in the future.
According to Putin, the information about possible casualties among the civilian population in Syria appeared before the Russian aircraft took off into the sky.
“Other countries have already had strikes at Syrian territory for more than a year. They did it without a UN Security Council resolution and without a Syrian request of the authorities. We have such a request, and we are going to struggle with terrorist organizations”, Putin said.
According to Syrian state agency SANA, Russian aviation bombed on Wednesday the “lair” of the Islamic state in Rastan, Talbiseh, Zafarani, Tulul Al-Khumri, Aydin, Deir Ful and Salamiyah.
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists from the organization “Local Coordination Committees” (ICC) said on Wednesday that the air strikes of the Russian military in five cities to the north of Homs have killed dozens of civilians, including children. Also the activists pointed out that none of the areas which was under military strikes is controlled by the Islamic state.
The US Senator John McCain said that Russian aircraft attack the groups that support the United States. According to him, this can lead to a deterioration in relations between Moscow and Washington. McCain added that the first airstrikes were directed against individuals and groups that were funded and trained by the CIA. At the same time, at a recent press conference, the Syrian ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said that all strikes were exclusively directed to the positions of the Islamic state. He added that the Russian forces acted in coordination with the Syrian army. According to him, the key to a successful fight against Islamic state and its allies is a collaboration with the Syrian army.
To judge by the words of McCain, the groups and individuals supported by the U.S., that are claimed to be under the attack of Russian military aircraft, belong to ISIS and its allies. That is why all the previous attempts of the international coalition to fight ISIS in the Middle East failed.