U.S. rebukes first Russian airstrike in Syria

Jim Michaels and Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Russia on Wednesday launched its first airstrike in Syria following its military buildup in the embattled country, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States and raising tensions further in the region.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called Russian policy in Syria "ill-advised" and said it was "doomed to fail."

The airstrike came only days after President Obama met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Nations General Assembly to discuss Russia's military buildup in Syria.

The United States and Russia share a common goal of repelling the Islamic State from Syria, but they differ over the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russia has been a principal backer of his regime during the country's four-year civil war while the United States has called for the Syrian leader to be removed because of documented abuses against Syrian civilians.

The administration's concern is that in combating the Islamic State, a potent threat to Assad, Russia would strengthen the Syrian leader's hold on power and prolong the war.

Russia's escalated involvement in Syria is tantamount to "pouring gasoline on the fire," Carter said, since it is Assad who has drawn the Islamic State and other radicals into Syria's raging civil war. He said it is critical for Russia to push for new leadership in Syria at the same time it is targeting the Islamic State.

The Pentagon called into question Russian claims that its military strategy is to target the Islamic State militants, suggesting the real aim is to prop up Assad. Carter pointed out that the Russian airstrike, which the Pentagon had said was near Homs, is not in an area known as an Islamic State stronghold.

Any attacks on moderate forces opposing Assad would be a blow to the United States, which is backing those rebels, but it was not clear how the Pentagon would respond to attacks on U.S.-supported opponents of Assad.

The United States was given one hour's notice before the Russian strike took place, the Pentagon said. The Russian notice was provided in Baghdad, where the Russians have set up a coordination unit with Iraq’s government. A high-ranking Russian officer there notified a U.S. military official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Russia's airstrike was carried out with multiple aircraft. It remained unclear whether the Russians planned to conduct regular airstrikes.

Carter said the U.S.-led coalition planned to continue its daily airstrikes on Islamic State targets regardless of Russian actions.

The Pentagon has said it plans to hold regular meetings with Russian military officials to avoid inadvertent clashes between Russian and coalition military activities in Syria.

“The purpose of these de-confliction discussions will be to ensure that ongoing coalition air operations are not interrupted by any future Russian military activity, to ensure the safety of coalition air crews and to avoid misjudgment and miscalculation,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday.

News of the Russian airstrike came after Russia's parliament granted Putin permission to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.

Speaking at a government meeting Wednesday, Putin said the only way to fight terrorists there is to act pre-emptively, Reuters reported.

He said Russia's military involvement would be temporary, and it is still possible and necessary to “unite international efforts to take on Islamist militants in Syria,” the news agency reported.

Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin's chief of staff, told journalists Russia will only use its air force in Syria, the news agency TASS reported. He said Assad had asked Russia to provide military assistance.

Ivanov said that the number of Russians joining the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is growing. "The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, according to TASS. "We are not pursuing any foreign political goals or ambitions, of which we have been regularly accused. The point is just to defend Russia’s national interests."

In Paris on Wednesday, prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime. The probe focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013 and is based on photos of mutilated corpses, the Paris prosecutor’s statement said.

President François Hollande announced Sunday that France launched its first airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.

Onyanga-Omara reported from London.