Ahead of Geneva talks, Russian airstrikes boost Syrian forces
January 23, 2016, 7:04 am

File photo: Russia carries out sorties against ISIL targets[Image: Russian Defense Ministry]

The Russian warplanes struck convoys crossing from Turkey into Syria and weapon depots near the Bab al-Hawa border-crossing, which is under the rebel control, the TV said. The Russian strikes also targeted a rebel battalion near Bab al-Hawa, killing many militants.

US top general Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that Russian airstrikes against terror groups in Syria have strengthened the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In Zurich on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed with his US counterpart John Kerry that peace talks in Geneva scheduled for next week should go ahead despite no apparent agreement on who should represent the Syrian opposition.

Russia is opposed to Saudi Arabia organizing the opposition’s delegation for talks.

Moscow has been carrying out intensive airstrikes since last year against weapon convoys reaching disparate groups fighting Assad forces in Syria.

Russia-Turkey ties are strained following the downing of a Russian war jet over Syria on November 24 by Turkish air forces.

Earlier on Thursday, the heads of the United Nations’ main humanitarian agencies and leaders of major NGOs issued a joint appeal on Syria, calling for an end to the fighting that has claimed the lives of more than 250000 people.

In separate attacks, Russian strikes also targeted the positions of the Islamic State (IS) group in several towns in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, according to reports by Beirut-based pan-Arab TV station Al-Mayadeen.

Meanwhile, Syrian state news agency SANA said the Syrian army continued to make progress in the northern countryside of the northwestern province of Latakia, following the recapture of the town of Salma, one of the major strongholds of the rebels in north of the coastal Latakia, the hometown of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian army is now set on freeing Rabia, the second most important rebel bastion in north of Latakia.

On Friday, the military forces wrested back control over the Kaloksi Mountain in northeast Latakia, said SANA, adding that the army units also took full control over seven towns north of Salma, inching closer to Rabia, a main crossing close to the Turkish border.

Citing a military source, SANA said the new military advances on Friday came after the Syrian army killed over 150 militants, while some fled toward the Turkish territories.

SANA said rebel groups in the northern countryside of Latakia include the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, the Ahrar al-Sahel, or Freemen of the Coast, and the Turkmen rebels brigade Sultan Abdul-Hamid backed by Turkey.

Western media reports quoted the pro-rebel monitor group based in the UK, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as claiming the Syrian ground operation room in Latakia is supervised by Russian officers, who are using Hmaimim airbase in Latakia as a launching pad for the Russian airstrikes against the ultra-radical rebel positions in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory also said Syrian government forces are making progress in the Turkmen Mountain in the northern countryside of Latakia amid heavy Russian airstrikes in that area.

The progress in northern Latakia also includes the battles in the northern countryside of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city and once an economic hub near Turkey.

Islamic State militants are pulling out of the city of al-Bab in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province following the progress of the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo and are being redeployed in Raqqa the de facto capital of ISIS, Al-Mayadeen TV reports said.

In mid-November, 2013, the IS was in full control of the al-Bab.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura would send out invitations on Sunday for Syrian peace talks in Geneva scheduled for next week.

TBP and Agencies