State Department: up to 90% of Russian air strikes in Syria caused by the opposition

At the US Congress hearing, Russia was again accused of escalating the conflict in Syria. State Department officials summoned to the hearing said that Russian aircraft are deliberately targeting “moderate opposition” instead of fighting terrorists from the Islamic State.

“Moscow cynically claims that its airstrikes are aimed at terrorists, but at the moment up to 90% of airstrikes have been carried out against the moderate Syrian opposition,” said Anne Patterson, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs. – The victims were civilians. We know that Russia’s main goal is to preserve the Assad regime.”

Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said that Russia suffered high reputational losses due to its actions in Syria, and its military campaign only aggravated the already dangerous exodus of refugees.

At the same time, the Syrian conflict, which has become another platform for political confrontation between the United States and Russia, is now perhaps the main reason for criticism of American President Barack Obama by Republicans. Every congressional hearing turns into a kind of debriefing, and the current meeting of the House Foreign Relations Committee was no exception.

“All this time we have been calling for airstrikes to begin, the US ambassador has been calling for airstrikes to begin. But the US administration decided not to do anything against ISIS when the group could still be stopped. It was decided not to arm the Kurds, although their representatives asked for weapons during visits to Washington,” said House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ed Royce.

In one, however, the opinions of Republicans and representatives of the US administration coincide - on the issue of the negative consequences of Russia's military intervention in the Syrian conflict.

The congressmen tried to get an answer from the representatives of the US foreign ministry to the main question: how did Washington intend to change its strategy in response to Russian intervention and how would it help 50 Special ForcesWho did Obama decide to send to the north of Syria as instructors?

The answer was only general statements: “the president is considering various options to intensify the campaign against the terrorist group “Islamic State.”

As Forum reported, on Thursday it became known that the Russian military group in Syria increased to four thousand people. The Russian command officially does not name the number of troops involved in operations in Syria. The defense department only emphasizes that the Russian military does not participate in ground operations.