国际英语新闻:Spotlight: Russia, West divided on air raids against IS

BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Since Moscow launched airstrikes on the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria last Wednesday, Russian military actions have aroused different responses from Western and regional countries.

INTENSIVE AIRSTRIKES

In a new round of air raids, Russian airstrikes have destroyed an Islamic State (IS) headquarters, killing up to 40 terrorists, the Russian news agency Ria Novosti quoted a Syrian military source as saying on Tuesday.

"An IS HQ, several pick-up trucks and an infantry fighting vehicle were destroyed, some 35-40 terrorists killed as a result of a precision airstrike," the source told RIA Novosti.

Russia's Su-25 fighter jets, Su-24M and Su-34 bombers, with the support of Su-30 Flanker jets, carried out 20 sorties during its first round of air strikes last Wednesday, hitting eight targets, including a command center.

On Monday, the Russian Defense ministry said its air force stationed in Syria has conducted 25 missions in the last 24 hours hitting nine facilities of Islamic State terrorist group.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its airstrikes have already done considerable damage to the IS command and logistics networks, as well as to the infrastructure needed to equip suicide bombers.

WESTERN ALLIANCE'S CONCERN

The United States and NATO have expressed serious concerns over Russian military actions, saying Russia is mainly striking Syria's anti-government rebels in support of its ally, President Bashar al-Assad.

They also accused Russia of conducting the crowded and sometimes uncoordinated air raids in Syria, urging Moscow to stop attacks against the Syrian opposition and civilians.

However, Moscow has denied such allegations, saying that it has no political agenda in Syria and that its bombing of the IS positions is inline with the U.S. priority.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said Washington is prepared to resume de-confliction talks with the Kremlin on military operations in Syria.

"We've seen over the last couple of days the danger that exists on the ground of accidental incursions," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a regular briefing. "So we need to absolutely engage with Russia on de-conflicting."

The U.S. Department of Defense also said earlier Tuesday that it stands ready to meet with its Russian counterpart again "as soon as possible."

On the other hand, NATO criticized on Monday Russia's military actions in Syria which, it said, "led to civilian casualties."

NATO said "the attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs, and Idlib which led to civilian casualties and did not target Da'esh (IS)," calling these actions violations of Turkish and NATO airspace.H The bloc also expressed "strong solidarity" with Turkey, saying it "will continue to follow the developments on the South-Eastern borders of NATO very closely."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that "Russian combat aircraft have violated Turkish airspace," which "doesn't look like an accident and we also have seen two of them during the weekend."

On Tuesday, Turkey said that eight of its F-16 jets patrolling the Syrian border were harassed by an unidentified MiG-29 and missile defense system on Monday.

This was the second similar incident after two Turkish F-16s patrolling the Syrian border were harassed by an unidentified MiG-29 on Sunday.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Russia's ambassador in Ankara again on Monday to protest the breaches, warning of "unwanted results" from similar violations.

Russian Defense Ministry on Monday blamed bad weather conditions for the brief violation of Turkish airspace, saying "The incident was a consequence of unfavorable weather conditions in the area. One should not look for any conspiracy theories here."