Russian warships strike Islamic State targets with cruise missiles

Four Russian warships on Wednesday struck at Islamic State targets in Syria with cruise missiles, as Moscow ramps up its military campaign, Russia’s defense minister said.

“In addition to the air force, four warships of the Caspian flotilla have been involved,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, adding that the warships carried out 26 cruise missile strikes against 11 targets.

Moscow maintains that none of the targets was identified with rebel groups apart from Islamic State.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the French president offered him to help create an alliance between the regime of Bashar Assad, which Russia supports, and the Free Syrian Army. The alliance, which seems unlikely, is meant to defeat the Islamic State terror group.

“During my last visit to Paris, French President [Francois] Hollande expressed an interesting idea according to which in his opinion it might be possible to at least try to unite the efforts of the government troops of president Assad’s army and the so-called Free Syrian Army,” Putin said in televised comments.

Putin was in Paris on Friday for talks with Hollande as well as the leaders of Germany and Ukraine.

Putin said in televised remarks Wednesday that he found Hollande’s idea “interesting” but insisted Moscow still has too little information on the Free Syrian Army. He says “we still don’t know where it is and who leads it.”

But the Russian leader added that “since (the Free Syrian Army) is supposed to be the combat unit of the so-called healthy opposition, it would create good conditions for a political settlement in Syria if they could join forces against the common enemy, terrorists, the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and others.”