CNN: Kremlin Claims Airstrikes Aimed at Targeting ISIS

‘The Kremlin says it’s targeting ISIS forces, but these chaotic images are from the province of Homs where other rebel groups hold sway’

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CHANCE (voice-over): “This is the aftermath of Russia's first airstrike in Syria, and its violent announcement of involvement in this brutal war. The Kremlin says it's targeting ISIS forces. But these chaotic images are from the province of Homs, where other rebel groups hold sway. Moscow draws little distinction, it seems, between the enemies of its Syrian government allies. It took Russia's parliament less than half an hour to rubber-stamp the use of military force, albeit temporary and limited to air power. But Russian officials justify it as legal under international law, and like the airstrikes, they say, carried out by the United States and its allies. 
IVANOV (as interpreted): “I want to inform you the president of the Syrian Arab Republic addressed the leadership of our country with a request for military assistance. So we can state that it is necessary to fight terrorism. International efforts should be united. But complying with the norms of international law is preferable.” 
CHANCE (voice-over): “But few expected to see Russian military action so soon, despite emerging evidence over the past month of a Russian military build-up.” 
CHANCE (on camera): “Moscow has good reason to support its Syrian ally, including military and economic interests in Syria, and a genuine concern about the spread of radical Islamic groups like ISIS. But the Kremlin also seems driven by a desire to reassert its power and to show that Russia remains a global force to be reckoned with.” 
CHANCE (voice-over): “It was a message delivered by Vladimir Putin so forcefully at the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week. Western policy on Syria and elsewhere, he said, had failed, leaving chaos in its wake.” 
PUTIN (as interpreted): “I'm urged to ask those who created this situation, do you at least realize now what you've done? But I'm afraid that this question will remain unanswered because they have never abandoned the policy which is based on arrogance, exceptionalism and impunity.” 
CHANCE (voice-over): “But now it seems Russia is offering its own answers. These are the first official images from the Russian defense ministry of its airstrikes. Military equipment, communication centers, and motor vehicles were among the targets attacked, it says. And this is just day one of what could be Russia's open-ended Syrian war.”

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