This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
NATO powers stepped up threats against Russia yesterday as the anti-terrorist offensive in Syria gained momentum.
Syrian army General Ali Ayoub said Russian jets were supporting troops fighting terrorists in Hama and Idlib provinces.
“Today, the Syrian Arab armed forces began a wide-ranging attack with the aim of eliminating the terrorist groups and liberating the areas and towns that suffered from their scourge and crimes,” he said.
The Sana news agency said joint Syrian-Russian air strikes hit 27 Nusra Front targets, including positions and training camps.
The Syrian army’s first objective is to secure the western coast region.
On Wednesday, troops recaptured 30 square miles of territory in northern Hama, advancing on the villages of Latmeen and Kafr Zeita, west of the town of Morek.
They expect to capture the town of Khan Shaykuhn on the major M5 road that runs north-south from Aleppo to Damascus.
Khan Shaykuhn is considered the key to Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib, west of the provincial capital.
A meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels agreed to double the size of the alliance’s response force and station troops in the Baltic states.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg repeated threats to Moscow over two accidental incursions into Turkish airspace over the weekend.
“Nato is able and ready to defend all allies, including Turkey, against any threat,” he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to look elsewhere for its natural gas needs, 60 per cent of which are supplied by Russia, and cancel the construction of its first, Russian-built, nuclear power station.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov questioned Washington’s commitment to fighting terrorism in Syria in light of its refusal to share intelligence.
“The question arises of whose side they’re fighting on in this war,” he said.
Last week Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also questioned the US will to fight Islamic State, calling its support “limited.”
On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said US schemes for an anti-government no-fly zone over Syria had been shelved in light of the Russian military intervention.
