Syrian ceasefire disrupted by militants, govt troops forced to respond - Russian General Staff
MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The Syrian army has launched a retaliation in response to the militants' disruption of the ceasefire, the Russian General Staff said.
"The cessation of hostilities was disrupted by militants. Instead of a reduction in intensity of shelling of the government troops' positions, there has been a manifold increase in militant activity," Lieut. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, First Deputy Head of the Main Operative Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, said on Wednesday.
"Under these conditions, the Syrian command had to take retaliatory measures against militants," the general said.
"[We] observed stronger coordination of actions among various militant groups whose leadership was carried out from a joint operations control center," Poznikhir said.
"Instead of separating the opposition and Jabhat al-Nusra [a terrorist group banned in Russia], the topic of the day is now allegations by field commanders about them joining al-Nusra and refusing to observe the ceasefire," he said.
Russia hoped the U.S. would separate the opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra forces to create conditions for the future joint work of identifying targets and destroying terrorist groups, the general said.
"We were prepared to keep extending the ceasefire, making it indefinite," Poznikhir said.