AFP to publish interview with Syrian President Assad on Feb. 12
The AFP news agency says it will publish an interview with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tomorrow -- his first in two months. Assad is now in a far stronger position than two months ago, thanks to Russian air strikes, which have helped his forces make gains against armed opposition groups.
It is likely that Assad will have been asked about the Russian-backed government offensive in Aleppo, calls for a cease fire, the Syria peace talks and sieges against civilian areas.
More from U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the U.S.-led coalition spokesman, who has slammed Russia's claims that the coalition bombed Aleppo yesterday.
Warren also criticized the Russian bombing campaign.
U.S.-led coalition spox calls Russian bombing 'reckless & indiscriminate'
U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, has published a series of tweets hitting back at Russian claims that U.S.-led aircraft bombed Aleppo on Feb. 10.
Warren said that Russia's bombing campaign in Syria is "reckless and indiscriminate and their efforts are strategically short-sighted."
U.S.-led coalition responds to Russia's claims U.S. bombed Aleppo yesterday
U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group in Syria and Iraq, has tweeted a response to the Russian Defense Ministry's earlier claims that U.S.-led aircraft were operating over Aleppo and that Russian planes did not bomb a hospital in the city on Feb. 10.
Warren said that the strikes that hit the Aleppo hospital did not occur on Feb. 10 and that only Russian and Syrian government planes were operating over Aleppo.
Russia denies striking hospital in Aleppo, says U.S. bombed the city
Russia's Defense Ministry has denied that it carried out air strikes that hit a hospital in Syria's Aleppo province, instead alleging that U.S.-led coalition aircraft had bombed targets in the city on Feb. 10.
A Pentagon spokesman on Feb. 10 accused Russian and Syria government forces of destroying Aleppo's two main hospitals with air strikes, though he did not specify when the strikes were alleged to have happened.
Russia's Defense Ministry tweeted spokesman Igor Konashenkov's denial of the claims, and his suggestion that U.S.-led forces had bombed Aleppo on Feb.10.
Russia has proposed a cease fire in Syria: Lavrov
Russia has made a proposal for a cease fire in Syria and is waiting for a response from the International Syria Support Group, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
Lavrov and Kerry meet in Munich to talk Syria
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has posted these photos of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Munich, where top diplomats are meeting for a planned Syria peace conference hosted by the United States and Russia.
51,000 displaced since Syrian gov't offensive on Aleppo began on Feb. 1: UN
Some 51,000 people have been displaced since the Syrian government and allied forces and Russian air strikes began an offensive on the city of Aleppo on Feb. 1, the UN has said.
A further 300,000 people are at risk of being placed under siege, the UN said.
Russia's Defense Ministry publishes videos of strikes on 'IS targets'
Russia's Defense Ministry has published a series of videos of Russian air strikes that it claims have hit IS targets in various parts of Syria.
Some of the claimed strikes took place in areas where IS militants are not present. Russia frequently uses the term "IS" as a generic term for armed opposition groups in Syria even when it is clear that the groups to which it is referring have no affiliation with the IS group.
This video shows a strike on what the ministry claims are IS oil storage tanks in Aleppo province (the video does not say where in Aleppo province the strike took place.)
This video claims to show a strike on a "militant stronghold" in Latakia province. The text accompanying the video does not say that the strike targeted IS militants -- there is no IS presence in Latakia.
This video shows a strike against an "IS command point" in Idlib province: