US considers defence of Syrian rebels amid Russian airstrikes

Russian airstrikes in Syria have triggered talks about whether the US should protect US-trained rebels.

In this image made from video provided by Hadi Al-Abdallah, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, smoke rises after airstrikes in Kafr Nabel of the Idlib province, western Syria, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. Russian jets carried out a second day of airstrikes in Syria Thursday, but there were conflicting claims about whether they were targeting Islamic State and al-Qaeda militants or trying to shore up the defenses of President Bashar Assad. (Hadi Al-Abdallah via AP)

Russia’s airstrikes in Syria has triggered talks within the Pentagon about whether the US should use military force to protect US-trained and equipped Syrian rebels if they come under fire by the Russians.

US officials said yesterday that senior military leaders and ­defence officials were working through the thorny legal and foreign policy issues and were weighing the risks of using force in response to a Russian attack.

Tensions between Washington and Moscow are escalating over Russian airstrikes that are serving to strengthen Syrian dictator ­Bashar al-Assad by targeting rebels — including some aligned with the US — rather than hitting Islamic State as promised.

Iran is believed to have sent hundreds of fresh troops to Syria to join a ground offensive against the anti-Assad rebels, and Saudi Arabia has said it was ready to step up support for the rebel forces if Russia continued its raids.

The Pentagon yesterday had its first talks with Russian officials in an effort to avoid any unintended US-Russian confrontations as the airstrikes continued in the skies over Syria.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared for talks with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris last night, a senior Russian MP said the airstrikes in Syria would last for three to four months and would intensify. “There is always a risk of getting bogged down but in Moscow they’re talking about three to four months of operations,” Alexei Pushkov, the head of the foreign affairs committee of the State Duma, told French radio.

Mr Pushkov said more than 2500 airstrikes by the US-led ­coalition in Syria had failed to ­inflict significant damage on ­Islamic State, but Russia’s campaign would be more intensive to achieve results.

“I think it’s the intensity that is important. The US-led coalition has pretended to bomb Daesh for a year, without results. If you do it in a more efficient way, I think you’ll see results,” he said, using an Arab acronym for Islamic State, also know as ISIS and ISIL.

Mr Pushkov refuted suggestions from Western nations that Russian planes were mainly bombing rebel groups opposed to Assad but not Islamic State.

“The main target are the Daesh groups situated closest to Damascus,” he said.

Russian aircraft flew 30 sorties across northern Syria on Thursday in the second day of airstrikes it claimed were aimed at Islamic State positions. Among the targets, however, was the CIA-trained Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group, whose base in Idlib province was struck by 20 missiles. Fighters from the group were trained by the CIA in Qatar and Saudi Arabia as part of a coalition program to bolster anti-regime rebels under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army.

Other targets included the most powerful rebel alliance fighting the regime in Damascus, the Army of Conquest, which has been threatening to push into the coastal stronghold of Assad loyalists. The coastal strip from Latakia to Tartus is the locus of most of Russia’s military assets in Syria.

Russian airstrikes also hit ­Islamic State-controlled territory for the first time, bombing the Tabqa air base in Raqqa province, which the jihadists captured from the regime a year ago.

A spokesman for Mr Putin ­admitted that Russia was targeting “well-known” rebel groups other than ISIS. “The aim is really to help the armed forces of Syria in their weak spots,” Mr Peskov said.

The Army of Conquest is a ­coalition of Islamist rebels that includes Jabhat al-Nusra Front, al-Qa’ida’s Syrian affiliate, and other more moderate groups. The US has also bombed al-Nusra positions in the past, although it claimed it was targeting a specific group that was dedicated to ­attacks on the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Moscow was targeting the same terror groups as the US-led coalition, including Islamic State and al-Nusra.

“If it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?” Mr Lavrov said in New York.

However, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “What is important is Russia has to not be engaged in any activities against anybody but ISIL. That’s clear. We have made that very clear.”

Mr Putin has rejected alle­gations that civilians had been killed in Russian raids, dubbing the reports “information warfare”.

AP, AFP, The Times