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U.S. military says Russia not hitting IS targets in Syria

Xinhua, October 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. defense officials said on Thursday Russian airstrikes in Syria were not targetting Islamic State (IS) targets as Moscow had claimed.

"The Russians were very clear publicly that they were going to strike ISIL," said Steve Warren, spokesman for U.S.-led counter-IS military campaign Operation Inherent Resolve. "I'm not going to get into exactly who they hit, but we don't believe that they struck ISIL targets."

ISIL was another acronym for the extremist group now controlling a vast areas of lands in Iraq and Syria.

"(In the place) where they (Russians) struck yesterday, we don't believe there was any ISIL there," Warren added.

Moscow began airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday after weeks of military buildup around Syria's coastal province of Latakia.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov strongly defended Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria, saying it is targeting terrorist groups and not aimed at keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power.

"We see eye to eye with" the U.S.-led coalition on targeting ISIL, al-Nusra and other terrorist groups, Lavrov said at the United Nations headquarters. "We have the same approach."

The United States had for long been concerned that Russia would target U.S.-supported armed groups in opposition to the Syrian government.

Russian's airstrikes in Syria also complicated U.S.-led efforts to combat the IS in Syria as possible clashing in the air could happen.

Though Russia requested the United States to clear the airspace above Syria on Wednesday, both the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department refused defiantly, insisting that the United States would continue its airstrikes in Syria.

According to a press release by a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, a remotely piloted aircraft conducted an airstrike on Thursday, which destroyed two IS excavators.

The number was far less than what the U.S.-led coalition conducted in the past. According to Warren, as of Thursday, the U.S.-led coalition had conducted 2,580 airstrikes in Syria during the past year.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on Thursday the United States and Russia had conducted its first round of talks on airstrikes in Syria.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the meeting lasted for about an hour and was focused on mechanism for the conduct of safe air operations over Syria.

"The U.S. provided an initial proposal to enhance safety, prevent miscalculation and avoid actions, activities or operations that could escalate tensions," Cook said at a briefing. Endit