Months into Russia’s campaign of air strikes in Syria, it’s become clear that ISIS isn’t the Russian military’s true target.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said at a briefing on Wednesday that at most, only 10% of Russian strikes are hitting the terrorist group ISIS (also known as the Islamic State, ISIL, and Daesh) in Syria.
The vast majority of the strikes hit other groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has be known to drop barrel bombs on civilian areas.
“The Russians at this point have made it very clear that their offensive operations … are in support of Bashar al-Assad and his regime,” Warren said. “So when the regime is fighting, whoever the regime is fighting, that’s who gets struck.”
Russia only seems to hit ISIS when ISIS comes into contact with Syrian forces.
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