Commander of group that has received CIA training says camp in Idlib province was struck by about 20 missiles in two separate sorties

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

US-backed rebels in Syria say they were hit by Russian airstrikes on Thursday, on the second day of Russia’s air campaign over the country.

The commander of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group, which has received training by the CIA, says a training camp in Idlib province was struck by about 20 missiles in two separate sorties.

Hassan Haj Ali, a Syrian army captain who defected after the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, said some of the guards of the facility were slightly wounded in the attack.

“Russia is challenging everyone and saying there is no alternative to Bashar,” he said.

The Russian defence ministry said its planes hit 12 Islamic State targets, including a command centre and two arms depots, although the areas where it said the strikes took place are not held by Isis.

Syrian activists reported a number of airstrikes in the country’s north and centre, including in the province of Hama, which they said hit locations controlled by another US-backed rebel group, Tajamu Alezzah.

US accuses Russia of 'throwing gasoline on fire' of Syrian civil war Read more

Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese pro-Assad TV channel, separately reported that Russian aircraft had launched 30 fresh airstrikes against Jaysh al-Fateh, a powerful rebel coalition that includes Ahrar al-Sham and the al-Qaida affiliated al-Nusra Front.

Jaysh al-Fateh conquered much of north-west Syria in a major offensive this spring, including Jisr al-Shughour, ousting the Assad regime from the area and inching closer to its coastal stronghold of Latakia.



Activists in Homs also claimed that a Russian airstrike targeted a road near Talbiseh, a village that had been hit the day before.

In a dramatic escalation of the conflict, Russia launched a series of airstrikes on Wednesday that it said were aimed at Isis terrorists but which mainly appeared to hit less extreme groups fighting Assad’s regime.

On Thursday, the Russian line appeared to change, with a spokesman for Vladimir Putin saying that Russia was going after a list of groups in addition to Isis.

“These organisations are well known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria,” the spokesman said, without giving names.

Syrian civil defence volunteers put the total civilian death toll from Wednesday’s strikes on Homs and Hama at 40, including eight children.



The volunteer group said thermobaric missiles were used and claimed that they struck a public market, bread distribution point and administrative buildings in Homs, as well as civilian homes.

“We can’t believe an even more advanced military power has arrived in Syria to kill civilians,” said one civil defence volunteer in a statement issued by his organisation.

Syrian rebels launched attacks in northern Homs against Assad regime troops and pro-government civilian neighbourhoods using Grad rockets in what they said was retaliation for Russian airstrikes.



Videos posted by a conservative rebel coalition in northern Homs showed rebel fighters launching rockets and artillery.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, had earlier dismissed reports of targeting non-Isis positions, describing “the rumours” as unfounded.



“Our targets are solely the positions of objects and equipment belonging to the armed terrorist group Isil [Isis],” Russia Today quoted Lavrov as saying.



Lavrov said Moscow had asked American officials to back up their accusations of Russia not targeting Isis with firm evidence. “They expressed doubt, arguing that there is evidence, which we asked [them] to show us, because we stand by our targets,” Lavrov said.

“Talk began that civilians were hurt by airstrikes. We have no such data,” he said. “We carefully make sure that these target strikes are precise.”

The US defence secretary, Ashton Carter, described Wednesday’s strikes as “illogical” and “doomed to fail”, telling reporters: “It does appear that they [the Russian airstrikes] were in areas where there were not Isil forces and this is precisely one of the problems with this approach.”



John Kerry, the US secretary of state, suggested he was prepared to welcome Russian military action in Syria only if it was directed against Isis. Appearing alongside Lavrov after their UN meeting, he said: “It is one thing obviously to be targeting Isil. We’re concerned, obviously, that is not what is happening.”



Kerry and Lavrov agreed that Russian and US military commanders would set up “deconfliction” talks to try to ensure their air forces did not inadvertently clash while they conducted overlapping air campaigns.

Lavrov said Russian and US officials would soon “get in touch and establish channels of communications to avoid any unintended incidents”.

The US was informed of Russia’s plans to launch strikes on Syria an hour before they occurred. The Department of State spokesman John Kirby said a Russian official in Baghdad had told US embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would shortly begin flying anti-Isis missions in Syria. The official also asked that US aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during those missions.

Although the Obama administration defiantly vowed to continue its own bombing operations in Syria - and took umbrage at Russia’s insistence on Wednesday that the US ground its aircraft – the US military revealed on Thursday that it launched only a single airstrike in the wake of the Russian campaign. The strike, in Mar’a, north of Aleppo, destroyed two Isis excavators, according to the US Central Command.

By contrast, on 30 September, the US launched 21 airstrikes in neighbouring Iraq.

Iran officially threw its weight behind the Russian campaign on Thursday. A foreign ministry spokeswoman quoted by the Irna state news agency said Moscow had her country’s full support in the strikes against what she described as terrorist groups.



Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, and Turkey, which is at odds with Tehran over Assad’s fate, are unhappy about the Russian involvement. Iran has played an instrumental role in propping up Assad’s regime by supplying him with financial and military support. Syria was the only Arab country that supported Tehran during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq in 1980s and the country is strategically located, giving Tehran an access route to its regional allies, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon.

