You're reading: UPDATES: Russia accused of lying about its airstrikes in Syria (VIDEOS)

Russia has begun air strikes against targets in Syria, Russia's Defense Ministry announced on Sept. 30.

The ministry claimed the attacks were launched against
Islamic State militants, but according to media reports the air strikes
occurred only in areas where other Syrian rebel groups are present.

Russia’s Defense Ministry published video footage of
what it claims to be an airstrike against an Islamic State target.

However, Kirill Mikhailov and Ruslan Leviev, members
of the Russian-Ukrainian War in Ukraine open source intelligence team, wrote
that they had geolocated the site of the airstrike as al-Latamneh, where there
are no Islamic State troops.

The attacks are being coordinated out of a new
information center in Baghdad that brings together military personnel from
Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, Latvian-based Russian-language news
website Meduza reported. Moscow says it is in contact with U.S. officials
in Baghdad and is providing the Americans with information about the air
strikes, according to Meduza.

Russia formally announced on Sept. 30 that it would
deploy troops to prop up the struggling regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al
Assad.
The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian
parliament, unanimously approved President Vladimir Putin’s request to deploy
forces abroad.

Assad requested Russian military assistance, Putin’s
chief of staff Sergei Ivanov said.
He added that only the Russian
air force would be used in Syria.

Russian aircraft have already started bombing targets
near the cities of Homs, Hama, and Latakia, in areas controlled by rebel groups other than
Islamic State, including the secular Free Syrian Army, according to numerous
reports, pictures and videos
on social networks. The raids on Hama and Latakia have yet to be
confirmed.

Alleged Russian warplanes are seen bombing targets in this video taken near Homs, Syria on Sept. 30.

As a result of the air
raids in the Homs province, 27 people, including six children, were killed, Russia’s
RBC news agency reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russian officials have demanded that U.S. warplanes exit Syrian airspace immediately, Fox News reported, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said that Russia had warned the U.S.
about the air strikes one hour before they began. He added that the U.S.-led
coalition against the Islamic State would continue to fly missions over Iraq
and Syria.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work used
stronger language, saying that the U.S. was “alarmed by what happened this
morning, Reuters reported.

“What was agreed by the two presidents is that our
militaries would talk so that we would de-conflict operations,” he said. “I
don’t believe it’s a failure. I believe it’s an aggressive action by Russia
right now in advance of our discussions between our two militaries.”

U.S. State Secretary John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the airstrikes were at odds with the goal of settling the Syrian conflict and were not useful, AFP reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

The shift
of Russia’s attention to Syria has coincided with relative calm breaking out in
Ukraine’s Donbas, where analysts say Putin is seeking to create a frozen
conflict.

The
decision to send troops to Syria follows Putin’s proposal at the U.N. General
Assembly on Sept. 28 to create a coalition against the Islamic State insurgent group, which is fighting against Assad, and his attempts to get U.S.
President Barack Obama’s support for the idea.

Critics
see Russia’s anti-Islamic State rhetoric as a ploy to keep in power its ally Assad,
whose regime has recently suffered major setbacks as a result of rebel
offensives.

Russia
has clandestinely deployed hundreds of its troops and military equipment in
Syria and is building an airfield there, according to media reports and
open-source intelligence outfits.


Video allegedly showing the aftermath of a Russian air raid on the city of Homs in Syria.

A Russian air raid in Syria on Sept. 30.

Footage of what the Defense Ministry claims to be an airstrike against an Islamic State target.


Map showing two areas where Russian air raids were reported to have
taken place on Sept. 30. (The raid on Homs has been confirmed, while the
raid on Hama has not yet been confirmed.) The gray shading shows areas
controlled by Islamic State, green – controlled by Syrian opposition, and pink
– the Assad regime’s area of control.

Kyiv Post
staff writer Oleg Sukhov can be reached at
[email protected]