Page 9 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Monday 12 October 2015
Syrian troops gain as Putin defends strikes
SARAH EL DEEB in the area captured by In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site on
LYNN BERRY the government since it Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, a bomb is released from Russian Su-34 strike fighter in Syria.
Associated Press launched a wide-ranging
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops ground offensive made (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
backed by Russian air- possible by Russian airstrikes
strikes advanced against that began Sept. 30.
insurgents in the center of In an audio recording, a
the country as President Saudi militant cleric based
Vladimir Putin defended in Syria urged fighters to
Moscow’s intervention in unite, mobilize and attack
the conflict, saying it would Syrian forces in different
aid efforts to reach a politi- provinces in order to avert
cal settlement. “consecutive collapses.”
Putin said Moscow’s objec- Abdullah al-Muhaysini,
tive was to stabilize the Syr- who is linked to al-Qaida’s
ian government and cre- affiliate in Syria, the Nusra
ate conditions for a politi- Front, said the Russians aim
cal compromise. to distract the insurgents on
“When a division of interna- different fronts ahead of a
tional terrorists stands near surprise attack.
the capital, then there is “We have to turn that
probably little desire for equation around before
the Syrian government to the infidels seize the initia-
negotiate, most likely feel- tive,” al-Muhaysini said in
ing itself under siege in its the recording, which was
own capital,” he said in an first shared by the Britain-
interview with Russian state based Syrian Observatory
television broadcast on for Human Rights.
Sunday. “If there is no vicious coun-
Critics of Russia’s interven- terattack to penetrate the
tion have argued that front defensive lines of the
strengthening the govern- regime, the future will be
ment will only make com- frightening.”
promise more difficult, Shaam News Network, a
and on Sunday the main group of anti-government
Western-backed opposi- activists, said several insur-
tion group said the strikes gent groups, including the
would undermine any ef- al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra
forts to reach a settlement. Front, have formed a joint
The Syrian National Coali- operations room for activi-
tion also said it would boy- ties in Hama and Idlib.
cott talks suggested by U.N. The rebels seized almost all
envoy Staffan de Mistura, of Idlib earlier this year and
saying any political process hold territory in northern
must be based on “end- Hama and rural Latakia, a
ing the Russian aggression” coastal province that is a
and reviving a roadmap major stronghold for Presi-
adopted in 2012. dent Bashar Assad and the
The fighting Sunday was Alawite religious minority to
on multiple fronts in the which he belongs.
northern part of the cen- Human Rights Watch
tral Hama province and meanwhile said that an
the nearby rebel-held Idlib advanced type of Russian
province. A Syrian military cluster munition was used
official said troops seized in an airstrike southwest of
the northern Hama village Aleppo on Oct. 4, as part
of Tak Sukayk. He spoke on of what photographs and
condition of anonymity in videos suggest is renewed
line with regulations. use of the air-dropped and
It was the second village ground-fired munitions.q
