Russian aircraft are finally primarily striking Islamic State targets, the Pentagon said acknowledged on Monday, after months of accusing Moscow of lying about its intentions in Syria
Until now, most of Moscow’s airpower has been trained on opposition groups supported by the United States working against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Credit the shaky cessation of hostilities agreement, brokered by the U.S. and Russia, which has been in effect for just two weeks.
The acknowledgement came as news surfaced that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his ground troops to begin pulling out of Syria.
Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said the “preponderance” of Russian air attacks are in two areas of Syria controlled by the Islamic State.
“We have seen as a practical matter since the cessation of hostilities began, Russia’s focus of effort really is on that western side, primarily in and around the western approaches to Palmyra, as well as farther north around Rasm al-‘Aboud,” Davis told reporters Monday.
“Those are ISIS areas, and their focus of effort is against ISIS areas,” Davis said.
Davis would not comment on reports Russia wants to coordinate efforts to liberate Raqqa, the Islamic State’s defacto capital in Syria, saying that would go beyond the limited memorandum of understanding with Moscow aimed at avoiding any confrontation between Russian and coalition aircraft.
“We do not coordinate with them in any way beyond the air deconfliction,” Davis said.
