US President Barack Obama has said
the Russian bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar
al-Assad is driving moderate opposition underground and "only
strengthening" Islamic State.
Mr Obama said he rejected the Russian assertion that all armed opponents of the "brutal" Mr Assad were terrorists.
Moscow insists its air strikes - which began on Wednesday - are targeting IS.
But the Syrian opposition and others have suggested non-IS rebels are bearing the brunt of Russian attacks.
Russia
said its aircraft had hit IS command centres, arms depots and military
vehicles. Targets included the IS stronghold of Raqqa, but also Aleppo,
Hama and Idlib - provinces with little IS presence.
"The problem here is Assad and the brutality that he's inflicted on
the Syrian people, and it has to stop," Mr Obama said at a White House
news conference.
"We're not going to co-operate with a Russian campaign to destroy anyone who is disgusted and fed up with Assad."
He added: "From their [Russia's] perspective, they're all terrorists. And that's a recipe for disaster."
'Stuck in quagmire'
And he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia - and another Assad ally, Iran - faced dangers ahead.
"A
military solution alone, an attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad
and try to pacify the population is just going to get them stuck in a
quagmire. It won't work. They will be there for a while if they don't
take a different course."
But he conceded that neither Russia nor the US would engage in a "proxy war" because of their differences over Syria.
Where key countries stand - Who is backing whom Why? What? How? - Five things you need to know about Russia's involvement What can Russia's air force do? - The US-led coalition has failed to destroy IS. Can Russia do any better? Media offensive - What does the campaign look like through the lens of Russian media? Inside an air strike - Activist describes "frightening Russian air strike"
The
UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the latest Russian
strikes hit a command post near the IS "capital" of Raqqa, killing 12 IS
fighters.
Activists and residents there said IS cancelled Friday
prayers and emptied mosques across the city amid fears of further
strikes.
But there were also reports of strikes targeting a radio
mast and communications tower in Aleppo that belonged to the Free
Syrian Army - forces opposed to President Assad which have received
American training and supplies.
The air strikes in Syria are
Russia's first military engagement outside the borders of the former
Soviet Union since the end of the Cold War.
Alexei Pushkov, the
head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's parliament, said the
campaign - which began on Wednesday - could last for three to four
months.
He added that the US had only "pretended" to bomb IS, and promised that Russia's campaign would be much more effective. Image copyrightEPAImage caption
Russia says it is targeting IS but it is also
striking areas where IS have little presence such as Idlib province
(pictured)
In a statement,
the US, UK, Turkey and other members of the coalition targeting IS with
air strikes called on Russia to cease air strikes they said were
hitting the Syrian opposition and civilians, adding that they would
"only fuel more extremism".
The warning from members of the
US-led coalition came as the French, German and Russian leaders met in
Paris. The meeting was called to discuss peace efforts in Ukraine, but
were overshadowed by Syria.
French President Francois Hollande
said he had reminded his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that air
strikes in Syria should hit IS targets alone.
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, speaking alongside Mr Hollande after the summit, said:
"Both of us insisted on the fact that IS is the enemy that we should be
fighting."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, speaking at the
United Nations in New York, said air strikes alone were not enough to
defeat IS but described the Russian action as "effective'' because it
supported his country's efforts to combat terrorism.
He also said his country's army was "capable of cleansing the country of those terrorists".
Syria's civil war
Image copyrightAFPWhy is there a war in Syria?
Anti-government
protests developed into a civil war that four years on has ground to a
stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian
rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory. Who is fighting whom?
Government
forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are
fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as
less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in
the north and east. These groups are also battling each other. What's the human cost?
More
than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured. Some 11
million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million
have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the
dangerous journey to Europe. How has the world reacted?
Iran,
Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led
Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more
moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.
Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the
ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air
strikes. The battle for Syria and Iraq in maps Syria's civil war explained
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