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Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

In a bold escalation of its involvement in Syria, Russia has launched air strikes in the war-torn country that it says targeted Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants, while Western officials suggested the offensive may be aimed at other opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sept. 30 that Russian warplanes were carrying out targeted strikes on the positions, vehicles, and warehouses that Russia believes belong to ISIL militants.

Syrian state television named at least seven areas targeted by Russian air strikes, including in Homs Province and Hama Province, north of Homs.

The United States said it believes Russian jets hit targets near Homs. However, a U.S. official doubted whether the area was held by ISIL militants.

The official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the strikes did not appear to be targeting areas under the control of ISIL forces and might extend beyond the vicinity of Homs to other areas.

Khaled Khoja, the head of the Western-backed Syrian political opposition, wrote on Twitter that at least 36 civilians were killed in the Russian bombing raids, which he said targeted areas where ISIL and Al Qaida-linked forces are not present.

Khoja, head of the Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, is currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

“The targeted areas in today’s Russian air raid in Homs were those areas which fought [ISIL forces] and defeated it a year ago,” Khoja added.

A U.S.-backed Syrian rebel group known as Tajamu Alezzah wrote on Twitter that its positions in the central city of Latamna in the province of Hama were hit in the air strikes, though it did not immediately provide details.

Reuters quoted a French diplomatic source as saying that the Russian strikes targeted opposition groups rather than ISIL militants.

Assad’s forces also purportedly carried out air strikes as well. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 27 civilians were killed and dozens of others wounded on Sept. 30 in Homs Province in raids by Syrian jets.

Some Western analysts say the area around Homs is not held by ISIL militants.

Thomas Pierret of the University of Edinburgh told RFE/RL the “northern Homs countryside is home to various factions from the Free Syrian Army to Jabhat al-Nusra. For sure, there is no Islamic State there and, overall, the [groups there] are rather moderate.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sept. 30 in Moscow that the only way to fight terrorists in Syria was to act preemptively.

He added that Russia would only involve air strikes and that Moscow’s involvement in Syria would be “temporary.”

The strikes came after Russia’s upper house of parliament voted unanimously to give Putin the authority to use the military in Syria — a requirement under Russian law and part of a campaign by Moscow to show that its involvement in Syria is legal and justified.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Sept. 30 that Moscow was prepared to open “standing channels of communication” with the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIL militants in Syria.

“We have informed the authorities of the United States and other members of the coalition created by the Americans and are ready to forge standing channels of communication to ensure the maximum effective fight against the terrorist groups,” Lavrov said.

The Kremlin-allied Russian Orthodox Church signaled strong support for the air strikes, with a senior church official saying the battle against terrorism was a “holy fight.”

A U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Moscow gave the United States just one hour of advance notice of its operations.

And U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that a Russian official in Baghdad requested U.S. aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during the missions.

But Kirby said that “the U.S.-led coalition will continue to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as planned,” rejecting any Russian effort to limit coalition activities.

Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, said the objective of the vote was to authorize the use of the Russian Air Force alone and that “the use of armed forces in a ground operation is ruled out.”

Ivanov said the “most important” driver in the decision to step up Russia’s involvement was the thousands of Russians and citizens of other ex-Soviet states joining the militants in Syria and Iraq and the security threat they might pose when they returned home.

He also said the vote followed a request by Syrian President Assad for military assistance in fighting ISIL.

The Syrian presidency confirmed on Sept. 30 that it had asked for Russian military assistance.

Russia has for weeks been building up its military presence in Syria, where it has supported Assad in the more-than-four-year civil war. Government forces are fighting against ISIL militants, other Islamic extremists, and rebel groups that in some cases are Western-backed.

The United States and other Western governments suspect Russia’s operations in Syria are aimed at protecting Assad’s government, not combating ISIL militants, and that its targets could include Western-backed rebels.

Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama clashed over Syria in speeches at the United Nations on Sept. 28, with Obama saying that Washington was willing to work with Russia to bring an end to the conflict but that any resolution to the war must include a “managed transition” away from Assad.

Putin called it “an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate” with Assad’s government to combat ISIL militants, who have captured large parts of both Syria and Iraq.

A U.S.-led coalition has already been bombing ISIL in Iraq and Syria, but Russia has been highly critical of the campaign, saying it has only yielded meager results so far.

The coalition conducted 26 air strikes against ISIL in Iraq on Sept. 29, as well as four air strikes on the militant group in Syria.

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