Assad: Russia’s bombing in Syria must succeed or the region will be destroyed

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad says the air campaign by Russia against rebels in his country must succeed or the whole region will be destroyed. Mr Assad said the Russian campaign has the potential to succeed because it was supported by Iran and has international, if not western, backing. He called on countries which support the armed opposition to stop to increase the chances of the campaign succeeding. His comments were published on Sunday as Russia announced it had attacked ten new Islamic State group targets in his country.

The alliance between Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran must succeed or else the whole region will be destroyed. The chances of success for this coalition are great and not insignificant

Bashar al-Assad

Russia’s bombing raids went into their fifth day on Sunday despite criticism from Washington and its allies that the military action might be strengthening the jihadists. The defence ministry said: “Over the past 24 hours SU-34, SU-24M and SU-25 jets made 20 sorties. Ten infrastructure targets of ISIS bandit groups have been struck.” However, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Moscow’s bombing campaign in Syria was “unacceptable”, warning that Russia was making a “grave mistake”.

The steps Russia is taking and the bombing campaign in Syria is unacceptable in any way… Unfortunately, Russia is making a grave mistake

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Middle East syria