Sergei Rudskoy, head of the General Staff’s main operations command, speaks during a briefing in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2016. REUTERS/SERGEI KARPUKHIN
On Fridan, the Russian General Staff reported that Russian had intensified air strikes against oil sites controlled by an al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, the Al Nusra Front.
Sergei Rudskoy, head of the General Staff’s main operations command said Al Nusra was taking advantage of a previously announced cessation of hostilities in many locations, and of the fact that its units are often deployed in the same areas as the armed groups involved in the political process.
“Unfortunately, our American partners are not taking any decisive steps apart from persistent requests not to strike the groups of the Nusra Front, because ‘moderate opposition’ units may be located nearby,” Rudskoy noted.
According to the general, Russian warplanes intensified strikes against Al Nusra’s oil production sites and smuggling routes to Turkey. But the key question remains unsolved, he said.
“Further delays by our American partners in resolving the issue of differentiating the opposition units it controls from terrorists … leads to the disruption of the peace process and resumption of military actions in Syria.”
