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  Russia says will keep hitting anti-Assad rebel targets

Russia says will keep hitting anti-Assad rebel targets

AFP
Published : Feb 15, 2016, 2:47 am IST
Updated : Feb 15, 2016, 2:47 am IST

Russia on Sunday made clear it would continue bombing Syrian rebel targets, raising doubts that a planned ceasefire would bring much relief.

Russia on Sunday made clear it would continue bombing Syrian rebel targets, raising doubts that a planned ceasefire would bring much relief.

Major powers agreed on Friday to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria but the deal does not take effect until the end of this week and was not signed by any warring parties — the Damascus government and numerous rebel factions fighting it.

Russian bombing raids directed at rebel groups are meanwhile helping the Syrian Army to achieve what could be its biggest victory of the war in the battle for Aleppo, the country’s largest city and commercial hub before the conflict. The situation has been complicated by the involvement of Kurdish-backed combatants in the area north of Aleppo near the Turkish border, which has drawn a swift military response from artillery in Turkey.

The Kurdish YPG militia, helped by Russian air raids, seized an ex-military airbase at Menagh last week, angering Turkey, which sees the YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group that waged a bloody insurgent campaign on Turkish soil over most of the past three decades.

The Observatory reported airstrikes by jets believed to be Russian in areas east of Damascus, north of Homs, and in the southern province of Deraa.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama had agreed to intensify cooperation to implement the agreement on Syria struck in Munich.

Location: Lebanon, Beirut