British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Tuesday that he believed President Vladimir Putin was worsening the Syrian civil war by bombing ISIS’s opponents, namely the mainstream armed opposition.
Hammond added that there was a limit to how long Russia could present itself as a promoter of the peace process while bombing Assad’s opponents, who the West hopes can shape Syria once Assad is gone.
“Is Russia really committed to a peace process or is it using the peace process as a fig leaf to try to deliver some kind of military victory for Assad that creates an Alawite mini state in the northwest of Syria?” Hammond told reporters in Rome.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that “in a stark contrast to its claims about fighting ISIS in Syria, the Russian air force continues to bomb residential areas in the rebel-held areas. In addition to targeting the Free Syrian Army, Russian air strikes have regularly hit public markets, local infrastructure and densely populated places. Only around 4% of the Russian airstrikes have targeted ISIS in Syria.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
