Lavrov urges unity on ISIS after Russia, France kill 33 militants
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged on Wednesday global powers to unite without any preconditions on the fate of Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad after Russia and France killed 33 militants in 72 hours.
“In my opinion there can now be no doubts that it is simply unacceptable to put forward any preconditions in order to unite in the battle against so-called Islamic State terrorists.”
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Russia, France strike ISIS
Dozens of ISIS fighters were also wounded in the raids on weapons depots, barracks and checkpoints in the jihadists’ de facto Syrian capital of Raqqa, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
France intensified strikes on Raqqa following last week’s attacks in Paris that left 129 dead, with warplanes carrying out dozens of raids on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Russia also pounded Raqqa with long-range bombers and sea-launched missiles on Tuesday, after Moscow confirmed that a bomb attack brought down a Russian passenger jet over Egypt last month, killing all 224 people on board.
“The limited number of deaths can be explained by the fact that the jihadists had taken precautions,” said Abdel Rahman, who relies on a network of activists, medics and other sources inside Syria.
“There were only guards around the depots and barracks and most of those killed were at the checkpoints,” he said.
He said many families of foreign fighters had also left the city for Mosul in Iraq, another stronghold of ISIS, which has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Sisi, Putin discuss fight against terrorism
The two leaders agreed in a telephone call on the need for greater international security cooperation, according to the statement.
Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it was certain a bomb had brought down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt’s Sinai on Oct. 31, joining Britain and the United States in reaching that conclusion.