Russian strikes allow IS to gain on Aleppo

Islamic State (IS) fighters are making significant gains in areas being hit by Russian airstrikes, taking at least five villages in the province of Aleppo over the weekend.

Russian airstrikes, which began on 30 September, have so far not focused extensively on IS-held areas, and instead rebel groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad have found themselves pinned down by the strikes.

IS has taken advantage of this, and is now gaining territory in Aleppo – bringing the group the closest they have come to the country’s former capital in two years, the Guardian newspaper reported.

“Russian planes are striking the Free Syrian Army and laying the groundwork for Daesh [IS] control of strategic areas in Aleppo,” a source from Tajammu al-Izzah, an opposition group backed by Western and Gulf states which has been hit by Russian airstrikes, told the newspaper.

“The truth is that Russia is backing ISIS,” he added, using an alternative acronym for IS.

In the week since Moscow’s aerial campaign began, airstrikes have largely focused on Hama, where opposition groups were gaining ground against the Syrian government’s forces, and western Aleppo, an area where Western-backed groups such as Liwa Suqour al-Jabal hold ground.

On Friday, IS took advantage of this Russian bombing of western Aleppo and moved south, taking control of a series of villages to the north of the city of Aleppo.

Moscow says it is targeting mainly IS fighters, but US officials and Syrian rebels have said the strikes have hit "moderate" fighters for the most part and are aimed at shoring up Assad's embattled government and troops.

Many of the rebel groups hit by the Russian airstrikes are also at war with IS.

"Everyone who wants to fight the rebels says that they are coming to fight Daesh [IS] while in fact they want to fight the rebels," said Bahaa al-Halaby, an activist based in the city of Aleppo, using an Arabic acronym for the group.

Ashton Carter, the US defence secretary, accused Moscow of inflaming extremism.

"By taking the side of Assad they inflame the civil war - and therefore extremism - and prolong the suffering of the Syrian people,” said Mr Carter said in London.

"They are going to have the effect also of turning everyone against Russia itself. This will boomerang in a very direct way on Russia."

The gains by IS come as Russia's defence ministry announced on Monday that the air force hit 53 targets in Syria in the past 24 hours.

Russian jets conducted strikes in the provinces of Hamas, Homs, Latakia and Idlib and destroyed "terrorist" command posts, training camps and ammunition depots, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agencies.