BEIRUT: Russia on Saturday pressed ahead with its aerial campaign in Syria, bombing the stronghold of the self-styled Islamic State after the United States and its allies accused Moscow of targeting moderate rebel groups.

A staunch backer of Syria’s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad, Russia began sorties over its Soviet-era ally on Wednesday in what it said would be a prolonged bombing campaign against IS and other extremist groups.

The United States and its allies immediately slammed Moscow’s intervention, accusing the Kremlin of seeking to buttress Assad under cover of a claimed assault on IS militants.

Read: US, allies ask Russia to halt strikes outside IS areas in Syria

US President Barack Obama on Friday called Russia’s dramatic foray into the conflict a “recipe for disaster” but pledged that Washington would not be drawn into a proxy war with Moscow in Syria.

Putin “doesn’t distinguish between ISIL and a moderate Sunni opposition that wants to see Mr Assad go,” Obama told reporters, using an alternative name for IS.

“From their perspective, they’re all terrorists”.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the fiercest critics of Assad, for his part urged Putin to reconsider his strategy in Syria.

“I will definitely speak to Putin,” he told Al-Jazeera Arabic on Saturday.

“I want to understand why Russia is so interested in Syria,” Erdogan said, adding he had “received information” that 65 people had died so far in Russian bombing runs, without specifying the source of the toll.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2015

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