Konflikten i Syrien

President Assad Underlines Failure of US-Led Coalition Operations in Syria

TEHRAN (FNA)- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised Russia for its efforts aimed at defeating terrorist groups, and meantime underlined that the US-led coalition has failed to deliver on the promise to tackle the ISIL.

"Since the US-led coalition launched airstrikes against militant targets in Syria in September 2014, the ISIL, al-Nusra Front and "other like-minded organizations or groups were expanding, expanding freely," the Syrian leader underscored in an interview with the Sunday Times.

"Russia, for its part, has managed to achieve much since September 30, when it launched its aerial campaign in Syria. The ISIL and al-Nusra started shrinking thanks to Moscow's involvement, "Assad said.

He added that Russia's counterterrorism campaign was authorized by Damascus, while the Syrian government did not provide permission to the US to operate on its territory.

Air strikes on the city of Raqqa in northern Syria have killed at least 32 members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group and wounded 40 more, an activist group says.
The strikes on Sunday hit IS bases in the north, east and south-east of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It said the US-led coalition was believed to have carried out the raids.

Syriens president Bashar Assad säger i en kommentar under söndagen att NATO:s bombräder är olagliga och att IS inte kan besegras om inte flyganfall följs av framryckningar på marken.

– De är skadliga och olagliga och underbygger terrorism så som har skett sedan koalitionen påbörjade operationen, säger Assad.

[...]

Assad menar att det enda som gett framgång mot IS är de ryska flygräderna som följts upp av regeringsstyrkor på marken.

Assad has said the only airstrikes that have worked against IS are those carried out by Russia, which is cooperating with Syrian government forces. Syrian troops have captured areas from IS since Moscow began its air campaign on Sept. 30.

Assad mocked British Prime Minister David Cameron's claims that there are 70,000 moderate Syrian rebels on the ground.

"Let me be frank and blunt about this. This is a new episode in a long series of David Cameron's classical farce, to be very frank. This is not acceptable. Where are they? Where are the 70,000 thousand moderates that he is talking about?" Assad asked.

"That is what they always talk about: moderate groups in Syria. This is a farce based on offering the public factoids instead of facts," Assad said in the interview, which was conducted before the British Parliament authorized the attacks.