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Syrian army launches Aleppo offensive amid Geneva talks

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Backed by Russian air strikes, government forces capture strategic towns north of Aleppo as talks resume in Switzerland.

Aleppo offensive launched as discussions between Syrian opposition and government kicked off in Geneva [AP]

Aleppo offensive launched as discussions between Syrian opposition and government kicked off in Geneva [AP]

by Al Jazeera

The Syrian government launched a major offensive from the north of Aleppo and captured several strategically important towns, as talks in Geneva on a ceasefire continued on Tuesday.

Monday’s advance opened the way for President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to retake Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, as troops marched through the towns of Hardatnein, Tal Jibbeen, and Deir Zaitoun.

Hundreds of families were reportedly fleeing their homes because of heavy Russian air strikes on the area assisting the Syrian government’s advance.

Opposition leaders in Switzerland condemned the offensive, saying that it shows the government is not committed to finding a peaceful resolution to the civil war.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, also warned on Tuesday that “the situation on the ground for the Syrian people is unfathomable”.

“We haven’t seen a catastrophe like this since World War II, and it’s unfolding before our eyes,” Kerry said at a conference in Rome on countering the advances of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Talks in Geneva continued on Tuesday as the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was to meet representatives of Assad’s government.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition leaders were meeting a Russian deputy foreign minister.

Discussions are meant to develop a “road map” to end the nearly five-year conflict that has resulted in more than 250,000 Syrians being killed.

Smartphone app initiative feeds pregnant women in Homs

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WFP campaign allows app users to provide 2,000 vulnerable women and babies with vital nutrition in Syrian city of Homs.

The free-to-download smartphone app is available globally for iOS and Android users [WFP/Abeer Etefa]

The free-to-download smartphone app is available globally for iOS and Android users [WFP/Abeer Etefa]

by Teo Kermeliotis, Al Jazeera

It costs just $0.50, and all it takes is a simple tap on your smartphone, yet it can have a profound impact on the lives of vulnerable Syrians facing severe hunger and malnutrition.

Just two months after hitting its target of helping feed 20,000 Syrian refugee children for a year, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a new mobile funding initiative aiming to help nourish women and newborns in the war-torn city of Homs.

The goal is for users of the ShareTheMeal smartphone app to help provide 2,000 pregnant women and nursing mothers, and their children up to six-months-old, with a year’s worth of vital nutrition.

WFP spokesperson Abeer Etefa said the women in the Aoun distribution centre will receive vouchers to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat, which will allow them to improve their dietary diversity.

“This is particularly important for both mother and child during pregnancy and the first few months after giving birth. The balanced nutrition has a crucial influence on the growth and development of their children,” she told Al Jazeera.

Hunger and devastation

Homs, previously the epicentre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, has been under a ceasefire since December 2015.

Yet, the five-year conflict has left the city in central Syria largely destroyed, with many of its citizens displaced and in dire need of support.

“The city is devastated,” Sebastian Stricker, head of the ShareTheMeal project, told Al Jazeera. “There are food shortages; a lot of people are displaced and are suffering from severe poverty,” he added.

Having a daily meal, Stricker said, does not only help the women and young children avoid irreversible lifelong consequences, but also provides them with a semblance of normality amid the prolonged crisis.

“It’s something that they can rely on,” he said. “It’s something that gives them some sense of living a normal life again.”

Sharing meals 

The free-to-download app, which allows contributors to follow the impact of their donations, is available globally for iOS and Android users. Developers said that a donation of $0.50 can provide women with enough nutrition for a day.

The concept is to allow people around the world to digitally “share” their meals while having dinner or lunch in a fast and easy way.

WFP’s latest campaign comes two months after it first rolled out ShareTheMeal in mid-November in a bid to help nourish Syrian refugee children who had been forced to flee their homes.

Since then, some 400,000 people from 197 countries and territories have used the app, helping the group to raise about $2m – enough to provide school snacks to 20,000 children in refugee camps in Jordan for a full year.

“Some of these children hadn’t eaten in weeks,” said Stricker. “Now they are being fed every day.”

‘Slow death’

The WFP says it must raise $25m each week to meet the basic food needs of people affected by the complex and worsening crisis in Syria, which has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced millions.

The UN, which has called the use of starvation as a weapon a “war crime“, is struggling to deliver aid to about 4.5 million Syrians who live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in besieged areas.

On Thursday, an international convoy carrying food and other necessities entered the famine-struck town Madaya for the second time this week, following devastating reports of starvation and illness.

“We would go for three days without food, then we would go and gather grass to just boil and eat it,” Mubarak Aloush, a Madaya resident who managed to escape to Lebanon told Al Jazeera.

On Monday, a first convoy reached Madaya and truckloads of aid also entered two other towns blockaded by rebel groups.

A new round of Syrian peace talks is scheduled for later this month, and access to humanitarian aid is seen as a key confidence-building measure.

James Denselow, a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre, said the discussions must place humanitarian relief for besieged or hard-to-reach areas at the top of their agenda.

“The slow death of those starving in areas across the country is a matter of huge urgency and a test for all parties to display their commitment to a peaceful end to the conflict,” he told Al Jazeera.

“If actors on the ground fail to find a consensus on allowing the access of aid to Syria’s beleaguered civilian population then the international community must take responsibility to put an end to such medieval practices being deployed in the modern age.

“The fate of Syrians themselves must be placed at the heart of any discussion on Syria.”

Aid convoys take off for besieged Syria towns

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Starving residents of Madaya, Foua and Kefraya – towns encircled by government or rebel groups – wait for food supplies.

Madaya Syria

by Al Jazeera

Aid convoys have departed for besieged Syrian towns where thousands are trapped and people are reported to have died of starvation.

Trucks headed for Madaya, near the Lebanese border, and two villages in the northwest of the country on Monday, the Red Cross said, as part of an agreement between rival sides.

The vehicles were to simultaneously enter rebel-held Madaya, which has been blockaded for months by pro-government forces and where aid agencies have warned of widespread starvation, and Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province, which are encircled by rebel groups, including the al-Nusra Front.

The blockade of Madaya has become a focal issue for Syrian opposition leaders who told a UN envoy last week they will not take part in talks with the government until it and other sieges are lifted.

A Reuters witness said dozens more ICRC-marked trucks were also preparing to depart from Damascus for Madaya. Vehicles heading for Foua and Kefraya, nearly 300km away, had departed earlier.

The UN said on Thursday that the Syrian government had agreed to allow access to Madaya, where the world body says there have been credible reports of people dying of starvation.

The ongoing Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, but morphed into a full-blown civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people and turned more than 4.3 million others into refugees, according to statistics by the UN.

Blockades have been a common feature of the nearly five-year-old conflict.

An estimated 400,000 people are living under siege in 15 areas across Syria, according to the UN.

The UN reported in December that the Syrian government and allied militias had also placed under siege more than 181,000 people in the Damascus outskirts, including Daraya and Ghouta, as well as in Zabadani, near the Lebanon border.

Separately, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has imposed a siege on more than 200,000 in Deir Az Zor in Syria’s east.

Sharif Nashashibi, a London-based analyst of Arab political affairs, says that government-imposed sieges “don’t just wear down the fighters, it also causes them to see the population around them suffering and raises the concern that the population could turn against them”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Nashashibi added: “Besieging Syrian civilians is wrong, whoever the perpetrator. One cannot be selective in one’s outrage over the suffering of Syrian civilians and plausibly claim to have a moral compass.”

The areas included in the latest agreement were all part of a local ceasefire deal agreed in September, but implementation has been halting.

The last aid delivery to Madaya, which took place in October, was synchronised with a similar delivery to the two villages.

Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, says the lack of access has made it impossible to assess the humanitarian needs of the communities in question.

“These are areas that have been under siege by parties to the conflict,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We can’t point a finger to one party and not another because more than one party to the conflict is involved in besieging various communities.”

Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the UN children’s agency UNICEF, says the lack of access has made it impossible to assess the humanitarian needs of the communities in question.

“These are areas that have been under siege by parties to the conflict,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We can’t point a finger to one party and not another because more than one party to the conflict is involved in besieging various communities.”

UN Security Council agrees on Syria peace plan

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Draft resolution calling for peace conference in January and ceasefire adopted unanimously by council’s 15 members.

The conflict in Syria started in mid-2011 after protests against Assad's rule and has killed an estimated 300,000 people [Reuters]

The conflict in Syria started in mid-2011 after protests against Assad’s rule and has killed an estimated 300,000 people [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The UN Security Council has unanimously agreed on the text of a draft resolution for peace talks in January and a ceasefire aimed at ending the war in Syria.

All 15 members of the council agreed to approve the text, which came after hours of negotiation between world powers on Friday.

Al Jazeera’s Diplomatic Editor James Bays, reporting from New York said the text was a long time coming and came despite reservations from Russia.

“There was lots of resistance from Moscow but Western diplomats [are] telling me they are very happy with what they have,” he said.

“This will be the first time there’s been a Security Council resolution on Syria and on political transition in Syria during five years of civil war.”

 

John Kerry, US secretary of state, said the resolution aims to install a transitional government within the first six months, paving the way for elections within the next 18 months.

He said any agreement would exclude the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Nusra Front.

“We have emphasised from the beginning that for this to work it has to be implemented by the men and women of Syria and cannot be opposed from the outside,” Kerry said.

“The resolution that we just approved is a milestone because it sets out specific concepts with specific time-frames.

The text does not include mention of Assad’s fate or which opposition groups will be included in peace talks.

Both have been key obstacles in reaching an agreement in talks thus far.

Obama’s remarks

Earlier on Friday, US President Barack Obama reaffirmed his insistence that Assad step down, warning there can be no peace there without a legitimate government.

“I think that Assad is going to have to leave in order for the country to stop the blood, for all the parties involved to be able to move forward in a nonsectarian way,” Obama said at a year-end news conference at the White House.

The conflict in Syria started in mid-2011 after protests against Assad’s rule were violently put down by government security forces.

The war has killed more than 300,000 people according to some estimates, and sent millions of Syrians fleeing for neighbouring countries and Europe, giving rise to the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Groups such as ISIL have also conquered large tracts of land, from where they have planned attacks on a number of states including France, Turkey, and Lebanon.

Syrian opposition: No ceasefire unless Assad goes

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Syrian opposition says they will not agree to any peace process that includes President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 250,000 people have died since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 [Mohammed Badra/Reuters]

More than 250,000 people have died since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 [Mohammed Badra/Reuters]

by Diana Al Rifai, Al Jazeera

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said the opposition would not agree to a ceasefire unless Bashar al-Assad signs an agreement to step down as president of Syria.

The comments came on Wednesday as the United States and Russia prepared for the next Syrian peace talks in New York on Friday.

“If they [US and Russia] want to fight terrorism as they say, why not get rid of the main problem, the government that is targeting civilians in Syria everyday?” SNC Vice President Naghm al-Ghadri told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.

“The US and Russia have always disagreed on the fate of Bashar al-Assad, but agreed on countering [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], which is ironic because instead of getting rid of the root of all problems, they want to tackle an off-shoot that resulted because of the government itself.

“It is our basic right to choose what we want for our country. We are not be waiting for anyone to tell us the fate of a Syrian leader lies with the Syrian people. We were born with this right.

“Yes they will meet abroad and negotiate on behalf of Syria’s future, but at the end of the day the whole world knows that if the Syrian people do not agree on any given political solution, they will not apply it.

“All those people who were killed and the millions of refugees living in tents for the past five years did not go through all this so one day the international community can make up their minds regarding Syria. We will decide our own fate, regardless of all the talks and meetings held by them.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday and agreed to hold the peace process on Syria in New York on Friday.

“We will meet this Friday on the 18th in New York with the International Syria Support Group, and then for the purposes of affirming under the UN auspices what we are doing within that group, and if promoted, that we would pass a UN resolution regarding the Vienna communiques and the next steps with respect to negotiations and hopefully a ceasefire,” Kerry told a press conference on Tuesday.

The SNC vice president said that the opposition coalition was not officially invited to the New York talks, but they expressed their views and opinions about the meeting through ambassadors of countries they consider as friends of Syria.

“We know if we were asked to attend the talks in New York, which are going to be a follow up to Vienna 1 and 2, the Syrian government would want to attend too. We refuse to negotiate with the government at this point,” Ghadri said.

Riyadh Talks

The opposition met in Riyadh last week and agreed on a transitional government in the country that does not include Assad.

The coalition, headed by Khaled Khoja, aims to replace Syria’s current leadership with a transitional government after achieving international recognition.

“Many factions signed the agreement in Riyadh which highlights and stresses on the importance of Assad leaving. If some day we were left with no choice but to sit at the same table as the government, we will, but nothing the Syrian people do not want will be applied in our country.

“As we speak there are Russian jets targeting two areas in Latakia suburbs, where there is absolutely no presence for ISIL or al-Nusra Front, why? Because it is now clear, the intention is to target the Syrian rebels and not ISIL or al-Nusra. They mock us by saying they are targeting ISIL,” Ghadri said.

Kerry and Putin agreed to continue what they called a final stage on listing terrorist organisations and on providing assistance to the UN in forming the opposition delegation that should be representative and that should be ready for negotiations with the Syrian government.

‘Don’t bomb Syria’: Protests across the UK as Syria vote looms

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Demonstrators protest against British bombing of Syria outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 28 November 2015. British Prime Minister David Cameron is calling on MP's to vote for Britain to join France with bombing raids against ISIS in Syria. (EPA/ANDY RAIN)

Demonstrators protest against British bombing of Syria outside Downing Street in London, Britain, 28 November 2015. British Prime Minister David Cameron is calling on MP’s to vote for Britain to join France with bombing raids against ISIS in Syria. (EPA/ANDY RAIN)

by Common Dreams

Thousands of people protested in London and around Britain Saturday against Britain joining in bombing attacks on ISIS in Syria.

The UK Parliament will vote next week on whether to join with the US and France in launching air strikes on Syria. Prime Minister David Cameron is leading the push for bombing.

The UK protests are organized by the Stop The War Coalition movement, which is also holding a string of other demonstrations around Britain.

The Stop The War Coalition said in a statement: “The proposed vote in Parliament on bombing Syria by British forces is likely to take place within the next week. The vote is more likely following the terrible events in Paris. Yet this bombing will not stop terror attacks. Stop the War is opposed to this military response.”

Cameron’s previous government suffered a humiliating defeat in 2013 over launching military action against the Assad government and did not push for a vote for the UK to join in bombing Syria last year.

Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is a founder of the Stop The War Coalition, opposes air strikes.

Writers, musicians, politicians, academics, filmmakers, trade unionists, campaigners and artists write to David Cameron.
To be delivered by Brian Eno and Mark Rylance at the Downing Street protest on 28 November 2015.

28 November 2015

Dear Prime Minister

The current rush to bomb Syria following the terrible events in Paris risks a dangerous escalation which will inflame the war there and increase bitterness against the West. The US has been bombing Isis for a year and admits that Isis is as strong as ever and has continued recruiting.

The experience of the wars in Afghanistan Iraq and Libya shows that Western military interventions lead to large scale casualties, devastating destruction and huge flows of refugees.

Far from tackling terrorism the last fourteen years of war have seen massively increased Jihadi terrorist organization around the world.

Rather than ignoring this recent history by joining the long list of countries that have bombed Syria in the last year we urge the government to stop arming reactionary and aggressive regimes like Saudi Arabia and Qatar that sponsor terrorist groups and look for political solutions as the only viable way to end the conflict.

Yours,

Mark Rylance Actor
Brian Eno Musician
Hans von Sponeck Former UN Assistant Secretary-General
Frankie Boyle Comedian
Will Self Writer
Ken Loach Filmmaker
John Pilger Journalist
Owen Jones Journalist
Caryl Churchill Playwright
Francesca Martinez Comedian
Jeremy Hardy Comedian
Caroline Lucas MP Green Party
Tommy Sheppard MP SNP
Arthur Smith Comedian
Miriam Margolyes Actor
John Hilary Executive Director of War on Want
Michael Rosen Writer
Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary
Tariq Ali Writer
David Gentleman Artist
Prof John Kinsella Poet
Prof Diane Reay University of Cambridge
Prof Richard Wilkinson University of Nottingham
Victoria Brittain Journalist
Manuel Cortes TSSA General Secretary
Christine Shawcroft Labour NEC
Prof Ray Bush University of Leeds
Prof Christopher Cramer SOAS
Prof George Irvin SOAS
Andrew Murray Chair of Stop the War Coalition
Lindsey German Convenor of Stop the War Coalition
Kate Hudson CND General Secretary
Logic Musician
Prof Susan Newman University of the West of England
Prof Gurminder Bhambra University of Warwick
Prof Ozlem Onaran University of Greenwich
Prof Prem Sikka University of Essex
Jean Urquhart MSP Independent
Elaine Smith MSP Labour

Turkey’s president warns Russia not to ‘play with fire’

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Erdogan condemns reports that Turkish businessmen were detained in Russia as animosity between Cold War rivals grows.

erdogan

by Al Jazeera

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Russia not to “play with fire” after reports emerged that Turkish businessmen had been detained in Russia.

Moscow said it would suspend visa-free travel with Turkey, and its tourism agency head announced on Friday it will ask more than 9,000 Russians currently in Turkey to return home by the end of December.

Relations between the former Cold War antagonists are at their lowest in recent memory after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border on Tuesday. The pilot was machine-gunned dead by rebels on the ground in Syria as he parachuted down.

Russia has threatened economic retaliation – a response Erdogan has dismissed as emotional and indecorous.

“It is playing with fire to go as far as mistreating our citizens who have gone to Russia,” Erdogan told supporters during a speech in Bayburt in northeast Turkey on Friday.

“We really attach a lot of importance to our relations with Russia … We don’t want these relations to suffer harm in any way.”

Erdogan said he wants to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a climate summit in Paris that starts on Monday. Putin has so far refused to talk to Erdogan because Ankara has not yet apologised for the downing of the jet, a Putin aide said.

Erdogan has said Turkey deserves the apology because its airspace was violated.

The nearly five-year-old Syrian civil war has been complicated by Russian air strikes in defence of President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey and regional powers have accused Russia of targeting moderate armed groups fighting Assad.

The frayed relations could also impact two major planned projects – a TurkStream gas pipeline and the Akkuyu nuclear power plant – between the two countries.

Turkey and Russia have also sparred over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant  (ISIL) group, with each side accusing the other of being soft on “terrorism”.

PM Cameron: Britain should join Syria air strikes

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Prime minister urges MPs to approve ISIL air raids, saying UK should not ‘sub-contract’ security to allies.

Cameron said the UK must expand anti-ISIL air strikes to Syria to deny the group a "safe haven" [Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters]

Cameron said the UK must expand anti-ISIL air strikes to Syria to deny the group a “safe haven” [Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Britain should join air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Cameron attempted to persuade politicians to back action in parliament, arguing the Paris attacks have given new urgency to the fight against ISIL.

The Royal Air Force is part of a US-led coalition attacking fighters in Iraq, but not in Syria.

Cameron said Britain must join the coalition in Syria to deny ISIL a “safe haven” from which to plot mass-casualty attacks around the world.

“I believe that we should now take the decision to extend British air strikes against ISIL into Syria,” he said in a written statement to MPs. “It is wrong for the United Kingdom to sub-contract its security to other countries.”

On Monday in France, Cameron and French President Francois Hollande pledged to step up security measures after the attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.

A parliamentary vote on the issue is expected next week.

Earlier this month, parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British air strikes would be “incoherent” and ineffective without a plan to end Syria’s civil war.

Cameron replied on Thursday in the House of Commons saying air strikes were part of a “comprehensive overall strategy” to destroy ISIL and end the Syrian war.

Reporting outside parliament, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said thousands of air strikes had been launched against ISIL in recent months and yet the group still remained a force in the region.

“There’s a big question whether Britain going in with air strikes would be all that effective,” she said. “This would be a good move diplomatically but it remains to be seen how effective militarily it would actually be.”

Russia suspends military cooperation with Turkey

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NATO urges de-escalation of tensions after Turkey angers Russia by shooting down warplane near Syria border.

The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missile near the Syria border on Tuesday [Reuters]

The Russian warplane was shot down by Turkish air-to-air missile near the Syria border on Tuesday [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Russia’s defence ministry has announced suspension of military cooperation with Turkey and Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister, has cancelled a planned trip to Turkey following the downing of a Russian warplane near the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday.

The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 warplane was shot down for allegedly violating Turkish airspace, angering Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who compared the incident to being “stabbed in the back”.

Russia also warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey, saying it was unsafe, and deployed a warship to the coastline near where the plane crashed.

The plane crashed in Syrian territory in Latakia’s Yamadi village.

One of the two Russian pilots who ejected from the jet was picked up by the Syrian army and is being taken to Russia’s base there, Russia’s ambassador to France said on Wednesday.

Alexandre Orlov told Europe 1 radio: “One on board was wounded when he parachuted down and killed in a savage way on the ground by the jihadists in the area.

“The other managed to escape and, according to the latest information, has been picked up by the Syrian army and should be going back to the Russian air force base.”

A Russian helicopter was also shot at on Tuesday as it took part in the search for the two pilots near the Turkish-Syrian border, opposition groups in Syria said.

Turkey, Russia and their respective allies have entered a war of words after the incident, raising tensions in a region struggling to cope with the ongoing Syrian conflict.

Putin sharply criticised Turkey for establishing contact with NATO to discuss the incident, prior to contacting Russia.

“Today’s loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot qualify what happened today as anything else,” Putin said in televised comments.

“Our plane was shot down over the territory of Syria by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet. It fell in Syrian territory four kilometres from the border with Turkey. Our pilots and our plane did not in any way threaten Turkey.

“Instead of immediately establishing contacts with us, as far as we know Turkey turned to its NATO partners to discuss this incident – as if we had hit their plane and not the other way around,” he said.

Russia has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September, saying it is targeting ISIL and al-Nusra Front.

The Syrian opposition and Western powers, however, say the Russian strikes have mainly targeted rebel groups fighting the Syrian government – an ally of Russia.

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey’s prime minister, said Turkey had a duty to act against anyone violating its borders.

“Everyone must know that it is our international right and national duty to take any measure against whoever violates our air or land borders,” he said in Ankara.

“Turkey will not hesitate to take all steps to protect the country’s security.”

While NATO called for the two nations to show restraint, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance secretary-general, said: “We stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO ally.”

The US also backed Turkey’s right to defend its territory.

President Barack Obama said while the US did not have enough information to form conclusions about the incident, similar confrontations could be avoided if Russia stopped attacking “moderate” Syrian rebels who are battling forces loyal to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

“This points to an ongoing problem with the Russian operations in the sense that they are operating very close to a Turkish border and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only Turkey but a wide range of countries,” Obama said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government backed its key ally Russia, with a military official telling the state SANA news agency that by shooting down the Russian plane, Turkey had committed “a gross violation of Syrian sovereignty”.

“The desperate acts of aggression will only increase our determination to continue the war against the terrorist organisations with the support and help of Syria’s friends, mainly Russia,” the official said.

A major point of contention is whether the Russian jet crossed into Turkish airspace, with the two nations releasing their own satellite images showing conflicting views of the jet’s final flight path.

A Turkish military statement said the plane violated Turkish airspace in Hatay province and was warned “10 times in five minutes” before being shot down at 9:24am local time.

A US official told Al Jazeera that the penetration of Turkish airspace by the Russian jet lasted “only a matter of seconds” as it crossed a roughly 3km wide section of Turkey that took only 20 seconds to traverse.

Russia, however, vehemently denied that its plane ever crossed into Turkish airspace.

The alleged airspace violation by the Russian warplane, according to Turkish authorities.

US coalition strikes in Syria ‘killed 250 civilians’

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CENTCOM says it takes the allegations “seriously” after monitoring group details toll of anti-ISIl campaign so far.

File photo of an air strike by the US-led coalition seen from a hilltop outside Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border [Vadim Ghirda/AP]

File photo of an air strike by the US-led coalition seen from a hilltop outside Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border [Vadim Ghirda/AP]

by Diana Al Rifai, Al Jazeera

At least 3,952 people have been killed in the US-led coalition’s campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria, according to a monitoring group.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Monday the death toll included a total of 250 civilians.

The air strikes occurred in the period between September 2014 and November 23, 2015, SOHR said.

The US announced the formation of the coalition against ISIL in Syria and Iraq in September 2014 which then included 28 countries. It now includes 65 countries.

Among those killed were 66 children below the age of eight, and 44 children above the age of 18.

At least 3,547 ISIL fighters were killed in air strikes on Hama, Aleppo, Homs, Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir Az Zor.

The air strikes also killed 136 al-Nusra Front fighters.

CENTCOM response

The US Combined Joint Task Force’s Public Affairs desk told Al Jazeera the US Central Command (CENTCOM) takes all allegations of civilian casualties seriously and applies standards in its targeting process to avoid or to minimise civilian casualties.

“We take all allegations of civilian casualties seriously, and we apply very rigorous standards in our targeting process to avoid or to minimise civilian casualties in the first place,” a CENTCOM media officer said.

“We take great care – from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements – in order to minimise the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to non-combatants.

“One completed investigation into two allegations surrounding a November 5, 2014, air strike in Harim City, Syria was released May 21 and found, based on the preponderance of evidence, that two non-combatant children were likely killed from a US air strike.

“We receive and review all allegations of civilian casualties no matter the source of the information,” they said.

When asked about ISIL casualties, CENTCOM said it does not release the number of ISIL fighters killed.

“As of November 13, the coalition has damaged or destroyed 16,075 targets.”

The coalition is also involved in providing military support to their partners in Syria and Iraq, in addition to humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict.

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