Russian President Vladimir Putin is undermining international efforts to end the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of Islamic State in an attempt to bolster Bashar al-Assad, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday (February 1) during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, about 10 km (six miles) south of the border with Syria.
In a clear sign of frustration with the Kremlin, Hammond scolded Putin for paying lip service to a political process aimed at ending the civil war while also bombing opponents of Assad who the West hopes could shape Syria once Assad is gone.
When Russia began air strikes in September, Putin tilted the war in President Assad’s favour, after major setbacks earlier in 2015 brought rebel groups close to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect.
Russia said it targets a range of militants in Syria, not just Islamic State, although it insists it focuses on IS. Russian officials said the West is playing with fire by trying to topple Assad.
On Monday, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had conducted 468 air strikes in Syria in the past week and hit more than 1,300 “terrorist” targets, Russian news agencies reported.
The ministry also said it had delivered more than 200 tonnes of aid to the besieged Syrian town of Deir al-Zor in January.
But rebels and residents said the Russian air strikes are causing hundreds of civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas away from the frontline.
Russia’s intervention had been a major setback for international efforts to find a political solution to the crisis, Hammond said. The effect of the intervention was to strengthen Islamic State, he added.
But he said it was difficult to discern whether the Kremlin’s support for Assad was changing, because Putin was impossible to read. (Reuters)
