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WORLD NEWS 9
                                                                                                                     Friday 2 October 2015

Russia defends its military action in chaotic Syria 

JIM HEINTZ                      guish which groups holds          Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers remarks during a press briefing at the United
Associated Press                what territory.
MOSCOW (AP) — As Rus-           On Wednesday, French              Nations headquarters Thursday, Oct. 1, 2015. 			                       (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)
sian warplanes carried out      Defense Minister Jean-Yves
a second wave of airstrikes     Le Drian said Russian war-        are taking. The representa-       added: “If it looks like a ter-      Peskov acknowledged to
Thursday in  Syria, Moscow      planes “didn’t hit Islamic        tives of the coalition com-       rorist, if it acts like a terror-    reporters that, “Of course
defended its military in-       State,” and U.S. Defense          mand have always been             ist, if it walks like a terrorist,   the goal is to help the Syr-
volvement against Western       Secretary Ash Carter had          saying that their targets are     if it fights like a terrorist, it’s  ian army where it is weak-
criticism of its intentions,    also said the Russians ap-        ISIL, al-Nusra and other ter-     a terrorist, right?” Asked if        est. Yes, that is right. The
saying it sees “eye-to-eye”     peared to have targeted           rorist groups. This is basically  he agreed with Lavrov, U.S.          weak points are where
with the U.S.-led coalition     areas that did not include        our position as well. We see      Secretary of State John Ker-         the Syrian army is fighting
campaign on its targets in      IS militants.                     eye-to-eye with the coali-        ry said: “Well, in concept.”         against IS and other terror-
the country.                    Speaking Thursday at the          tion on this one.” Lavrov         Kremlin spokesman Dmitry             ist groups.”q
The claim of agreement          United Nations, Russian For-
with Washington came            eign Minister Sergey Lavrov
amid conflicting reports        rejected suggestions that
about Russia’s intentions       the airstrikes were to shore
in  Syria  and whether it is    up support for Moscow’s
targeting only Islamic State    main ally in the Middle East.
and al-Qaida-linked mili-       He insisted Russia was tar-
tants.                          geting the same militant
The U.S. and its allies fear    groups as the U.S.-led co-
that Russia, which has          alition, which is conducting
backed the family of Presi-     its own airstrikes in Syria: the
dent Bashar Assad since         Islamic State, also known
the current leader’s father     as ISIL, the al-Qaida-linked
was in power, is using the      Jabbat al-Nusra and other
air campaign as a pre-          groups.
text to go after anti-Assad     “I would recall that we al-
rebels that include CIA-        ways were saying that we
backed groups.                  are going to fight ISIL and
Russian jets appeared to        other terrorist groups,” he
be primarily bombing cen-       said. “This is the same posi-
tral and northwestern Syria,    tion which the Americans
strategic regions that are
the gateway to Assad’s          Yemen:
strongholds in the capital of
Damascus and the coast.         Officials say rebels trading fire with coalition ships 
Warplanes hit locations of
a U.S.-backed rebel group,      AHMED AL-HAJ                      sour Hadi and rebel forces.       ing to the officials.                to secure the strategical-
Tajamu Alezzah, in the          Associated Press                  The pro-Hadi units were           The U.N. says at least 2,355         ly vital Bab el-Mandab.
central province of Hama,       SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Ye-           backed by air support from        civilians have been killed           The straight is one of the
said the Britain-based Syr-     meni military officials close     the Saudi-led coalition           in fighting in Yemen since           world’s busiest shipping
ian Observatory for Human       to the country’s Shiite           that has been bombing             March, when a Saudi-led              lanes, a major route for oil
Rights. It added that Ta-       Houthi rebels said Thursday       Houthi positions and has          coalition began launching            from the Gulf and cargo
jamu Alezzah also was tar-      that the rebels are trading       sent reinforcements from          airstrikes against Houthis           between Europe and Asia.
geted a day earlier.            fire with warships from the       the nearby southern port          and allied army units. The           All officials spoke on condi-
Idlib province appeared         Saudi-led military coalition      city of Aden, according           Houthis have been in con-            tion of anonymity because
to bear the brunt of the        near the Bab al-Mand-             to security and military of-      trol of the capital Sanaa            they were not authorized
attacks, activists said. The    ab straight, the strategic        ficials, who have remained        since last September and             to speak to reporters.
province is controlled by       southern entrance to the          neutral in the conflict that      are at war with the inter-           Separately, a Saudi se-
a coalition of rebel groups     Red Sea and the gateway           has splintered the country.       nationally recognized gov-           curity officer was killed
that include the al-Qaida-      to the Suez Canal.                The Houthis have been             ernment as well as south-            Thursday in heavy cross-
linked Jabbat al-Nusra.         The development comes             in control of the strategic       ern separatists, local mili-         border fire with attackers
In  Syria’s  chaotic civil war  amid land clashes Thurs-          area for several months           tias and Sunni extremists.           in Yemen, Interior Minis-
and rapidly shifting battle-    day near the straight be-         and still control the vast        Saudi and Egyptian war-              try spokesman Maj. Gen.
field terrain, however, it      tween units loyal to Presi-       majority of the area near         ships have been deployed             Mansour al-Turki said in
can be difficult to distin-     dent Abed Rabbo Man-              Bab al-Mandab, accord-            off the coast of Yemen               statement.q
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