Activists say a Russian air strike caused this crater in the Syrian city of Latamneh on Wednesday. A rebel group that opposes President Bashar al-Assad claims to have been targeted in Moscow’s attacks.AMMAR ABDULLAH/Reuters
The United States, France, Britain and several other coalition nations – but not Canada – accused Russia on Friday of bombing civilians and escalating the war in Syria.
And U.S. President Barack Obama accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of weakness in propping up Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, as sniping among big powers ramped up.
Mr. Putin ordered Russian warplanes to attack Syrian rebels "out of weakness because his client, Mr. al-Assad, was crumbling, and it was insufficient for him to send them simply arms and money," Mr. Obama said in a toughly worded denunciation delivered Friday at a White House news conference.
Mr. Obama accused Mr. Putin of attempting to save his Syrian ally by trying to "destroy anybody who is disgusted and fed up with [the Syrian leader's] behaviour."
The President's tough talk followed an equally blunt joint statement from most of the significant players in the U.S.-led coalition of nations attacking Islamic State and other Sunni extremist groups in Iraq and Syria. It demanded Mr. Putin confine Russian warplanes to attacking Islamic State militants targeted by the U.S.-led air campaign.
The Canadian government didn't endorse the joint condemnation of Russia issued by the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's previous tough talk aimed at Moscow. Canada's Foreign Affairs department could not immediately explain why Canada wasn't party to the joint statement but on Saturday, more than 24 hours after the statement was issued, Nicholas Doire, a spokesman for the department said: "We continue to closely monitor the situation in Syria, including Russian actions, and remain concerned with Russian motives."
Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson said: "given the pain and suffering endured by the Syrian people during this conflict, Vladimir Putin's military aggression is, once again, completely unacceptable," but his spokesman Zachary Healy offered no explanation as to why Canada wasn't party to the coalition's joint declaration.
The denunciation of Moscow came as Russian fighter-bombers attacked Syrian rebels for the third straight day, flying 18 sorties against nearly a dozen targets, according to Russia's defence ministry. Over the same period, U.S. and allied warplanes flew 28 missions attacking targets in Iraq and Syria, according to U.S. Central Command.
Although U.S. and Russian warplanes were both striking targets in Syria, the joint statement by the U.S.-led coalition voiced "grave concern" over "attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs and Idlib" claiming they inflicted "civilian casualties and did not target Daesh," using the Arab word for Islamic State.
Mr. Putin's decision to send Russian warplanes into action in Syria "constitutes a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization," said the joint statement. The U.S.-led coalition demanded Moscow cease attacking rebel groups seeking to topple the Damascus regime, except Islamic State and other extremist jihadis.
"We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL, the statement said, referring to Islamic State by its earlier name, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Moscow has said its warplanes are launching attacks in Syria at the request of the internationally recognized Syrian government, the same justification used by the United States and Canada and other coalition members to justify air strikes against rebel groups opposed to the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
There is no United Nations Security Council mandate for air strikes by foreign countries in either Iraq or Syria.
However, the U.S.-led coalition has informed the Security Council that its air strikes against Islamic State and other extremist groups in Syria are lawful under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter authorizing military action in self defence.
Islamic State militants have seized a huge swath of western Iraq and eastern Syria. In Iraq, the Shia-led army collapsed and fled rather than battle the Sunni jihadis of Islamic State. U.S. air strikes and Iranian-backed Shia militias stemmed the Islamic State advances last year but months of bombing have failed to dislodge the group from its nascent caliphate. In Syria, a host of rebel groups, ranging from the nominally democratic Syrian Free Army to Islamic State and offshoots of al-Qaeda have been fighting the Assad regime for four years. More than 200,000 have been killed, and millions have been displaced.
Mr. Harper has usually been among the most strident of Western leaders in denouncing Russian military activity in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria. Last week, while campaigning in Quebec, Mr. Harper said: "The Russian government and Putin remain a government that complicates, in dangerous and unhelpful ways, security situations all over the world." A handful of Canadian fighter-bombers have flown scores of attack missions against targets in Iraq and Syria, although the number of bombing runs has dropped sharply since Mr. Harper called a federal election.