Russia claims air raids in Syria have 'turned tide'

Russian military air raids in support of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have helped turn the tide in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov controversially claimed on Tuesday.

"The actions of the Russian air force, in response to the request of the Syrian leadership - have really helped to turn around the situation in the country, helped towards reducing the territory controlled by terrorists," Lavrov said at his main annual press conference.

Lavrov also said that UN-backed Syria talks planned to start later this week will not be successful if Kurdish representatives are not invited.

"Without this participant the talks cannot achieve the results that we want, a definitive political resolution in Syria," Lavrov said, adding, however, that it was up to UN envoy Staffan de Mistura to decide which opposition groups to invite to the talks.

Lavrov added that some participants of the Syria peace process had been "capricious" by refusing to negotiate.

Russia began a bombing campaign in September last year to back up those fighting for its longstanding ally Assad. Last year its pilots carried out more than 5,000 sorties.

	Russia has been accused of targeting moderate rebels [Getty]

Syrian opposition groups have accused Moscow of mainly targeting moderate rebels fighting the Assad regime as well as inflicting civilian casualties, a view shared by Western governments too. Moscow insists it is tackling "terrorist" groups such as the Islamic state [IS] group.

"Since the Russian bombing campaign began over 1,100 civilians have been killed. They claim they have helped recapture parts of Idlib, Latakia and Aleppo from IS, but IS was not in these areas except for in a few villages," Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told The New Arab.

"In fact, the Russians have helped the regime move forward against the Syrian opposition not only IS, and opposition groups have suffered as a result," Abdulrahman added.

Forces backing Assad have recently made several key gains on the ground.

Regime forces backed up by several dozen Russian air raids overnight captured the rebel stronghold of Sheikh Miskeen close to the border with Jordan, the British-based monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

Russian planes from Friday to Sunday carried out 169 flights, bombing almost 500 targets, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday.

On Tuesday, At least 22 people were killed in a double suicide bomb attack at an army checkpoint in the central Syrian city of Homs.

State television said that 100 people had also been injured in the blasts in the al-Zahraa neighbourhood of the city, which has been targeted in bomb attacks multiple times before.

Talks aiming to end the brutal war that has lasted almost five years are set to begin in Geneva on Friday after delays due to disagreements over who would represent the splintered opposition, UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters.