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 Russia's air campaign in Syria, where a U.S.-led air coalition and
fighters on the ground from regional states are already entangled in
the four-year-old civil war, has drawn strong criticism from the
United States and its allies.
Britain's defense minister said on Saturday that only one in 20
Russian air strikes in Syria were aimed at the hardline Islamic
State forces, which control large parts of eastern Syria and western
Iraq.
Michael Fallon accused Russia of dropping unguided munitions on
civilian areas, and against Assad's Western and Gulf-backed enemies.
Russia says it is targeting Islamic State with precision bombs.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least
39 civilians had been killed since the start of the Russian air
strikes on Wednesday. It said 14 fighters, mostly Islamic State
militants, had also been killed.
Russia said its planes made over 20 flights in Syria in the past 24
hours and targeted nine Islamic State sites, the Russian defense
ministry said in a statement.
 Targets included a command post and underground weapons bunker near
Raqqa, the eastern Syrian stronghold of the Islamic State militants,
as well as a weapons store in Maarat al-Numaan, Russian defense
ministry statement said.
Maarat al-Numaan, in Syria's northern province of Idlib, is not
known as an Islamic State base. Most fighters in the area are from
the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham and
other insurgent groups, according to the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitoring group.
A Syrian military source, quoted by state media, said Russian and
Syrian planes destroyed a command center in Latamneh, in Hama
province, where Western-backed rebels operate. They also hit a
training camp and weapons depot in Maarat al-Numaan, and weapons and
ammunitions stores in Jisr al-Shughour.
WESTERN-BACKED REBELS HIT
The Russian air strikes have hit at least four rebel factions
operating under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army which had
received significant military support from states that oppose Assad,
rebel fighters said this week.
Some have been trained in the use of guided anti-tank missiles as
part of an assistance program that has in some cases included
training overseen by the Central Intelligence Agency in countries
including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
This program is separate to the U.S. Defense Department’s train and
equip program aimed at fighting Islamic State.
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The anti-tank weapons, supplied by states opposed to Assad, were an
important factor in insurgent advances this year.
The Russian defense ministry said Su-34 and Su-24M aircraft, flying
from an air base near Syria's Mediterranean port of Latakia, took
part in the most recent strikes. A Su-34 plane destroyed a command
post and underground bunker with explosives and weapons near Raqqa,
it said.
In Maarat al-Numaan, a guided KAB-500 bomb destroyed seven vehicles
as well as other facilities and weapons stores, the statement said,
adding that the type of bomb was accurate to within 5 meters of its
assigned target.
"In recent days, these and other precision weapons have been used
against ISIS terrorist facilities: command centers, ammunition and
... depots, workshops where armament for terrorist attacks is
produced," it said.
Rescue workers in opposition-held areas in western Syria say the
strikes have killed at least several dozen civilians, including
children.
A fighter operating in the Al-Ghab region in north-west Syria
reported several air strikes. "Russian warplanes hit a number of
areas in the Ghab plain. They are hitting all the factions fighting
Assad. The only casualties are civilians," said Abu el Baraa al
Hamawi, from Ajnaad al-Sham rebel group.
He said there were "Russian experts" at a Syrian army base in the
area, as well as increasing numbers of personnel from Iran and the
Lebanese group Hezbollah.
A Syrian military source said an Islamic State attack on government
troops in the eastern city of Deir al Zor had failed, and the army
had killed a large number of "terrorists".
(Additional reporting by Kate Holton in; London, Tom Perry in
Beirut; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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