Moscow says it’s ready to establish contact with Western-backed opposition; Russian warships strike IS targets
(AFP Staff) Oct. 7, 2015 – Failure to act in Syria risks stoking a “total war” in the Middle East, French President Francois Hollande said in a landmark speech to the European Parliament alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“What happens in Syria concerns Europe, what happens there will determine the balance of the whole region for a long time,” Hollande told European lawmakers in Strasbourg.
“If we leave these religious clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, they will grow. Don’t think we will be sheltered, this will be a total war.”
Hollande, whose country has launched air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria, criticize Russia for its air attacks in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“We have to construct in Syria, with all those who can contribute, a political future which gives the Syrian people an alternative to Bashar or Daesh,” Hollande said, using another name for IS.
Hollande and Merkel were giving the first joint speech to the European Parliament by the leaders of France and Germany since Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl in 1989.

Contact with the Free Syrian Army

Moscow said on Wednesday it was ready to establish contacts with Syria’s Western-backed moderate opposition, the Free Syrian Army, battling against Russian-allied Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“At the president’s request, the foreign ministry informs our partners in countries that have links to the Free Syrian Army of the Russian side’s readiness to establish contacts with the leadership of this structure,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that French leader Francois Hollande had suggesting forging an alliance between regime forces in Syria and the opposition Free Syrian Army against the Islamic State group.

Francois Hollande with Vladimir Putin at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on October 2, 2015
“During my last visit to Paris, French President Hollande expressed an interesting idea according to which in his opinion it might be possible to at least try to unite the efforts of the government troops of Assad’s army and the so-called Free Syrian Army,” Putin said in televised comments.
A Hollande aide later denied he had said any such thing. “The president spoke of the necessary presence of the Syrian opposition around a future negotiating table. The rest is not a French idea,” he told reporters in Strasbourg.
France has often called for the moderate Syrian opposition to join future negotiations, particularly within the context of agreements drawn up in Geneva on setting up a political transition.

Warships strike IS targets

Four Russian warships on Wednesday struck at Islamic State targets in Syria with cruise missiles, as Moscow ramps up its military campaign, Russian President Vladimir Putin was told by his defense minister.
“In addition to the air force, four warships of the Caspian flotilla have been involved,” defense minister Sergei Shoigu said, adding that the warships carried out 26 cruise missile strikes against 11 targets.

 Russian bases and air strikes in Syria on October 6, 2015 with the zones of control of the different forces on the ground”

According to a Syrian official, a ground offensive by the regime has been launched in the central parts of the country amid the Russian airstrikes.
Putin confirmed Wednesday that Russia’s air force will be supporting the offensive operations by Syrian government forces fighting on the ground in the war-torn country.
Russian efforts “will be synchronized with the actions of the Syrian army on the ground and the actions of our air force will effectively support the offensive operation of the Syrian army,” Putin said at a meeting with Shoigu.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Wednesday said only two Russian air strikes in Syria had targeted IS jihadists and warned that Ankara would not make any concessions about the security of its borders.
His comments came after Russian warplanes twice violated the airspace of key NATO member Turkey in the last days.
Davutoglu said only two out of 57 bombardments had targeted IS fighters with all the others targeting moderate rebels backed by Turkey and the United States.
He said in televised remarks that the figures were based on military intelligence Turkey had received.
“If there’s going to be a fight against Daesh, let’s do it together,” he said, using the Arabic name for the group.

Russia’s aim according to analysts is to prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime against a broader group of rebels

The United States on Wednesday insisted it was not cooperating with Russia over Moscow’s air strikes in Syria with Defense Secretary Ashton Carter describing them as “a fundamental mistake”.
“I have said before that we believed that Russia has the wrong strategy — they continue to hit targets that are not ISIL. We believe this is a fundamental mistake,” Carter told a press conference in Rome, referring to the Islamic State group by an alternative name.
“Despite what the Russians say we have not agreed to cooperate with Russia so long as they continue to pursue a mistaken strategy and hit these targets.”