Seems like Russia is playing its own games in the region. They also bombed some rebel groups or especial forces have been helping/training/fighting along and providing air cover who were fighting against Isis recently.
Russian warplanes bomb elite British-backed Syrian rebels
A Russian SU-24 M bomber taking off from the Syrian Hmeymim airbase, outside Latakia, Syria CREDIT: EPA
Louisa Loveluck, istanbul
17 JUNE 2016 • 6:38PM
Russian warplanes bombed an elite force of UK-trained Syrian rebels on Thursday in an attack apparently aimed at weakening the group’s ability to fight Isil.
The New Syrian Army (NSA), which receives training and direction from British, American and Jordanian special forces, said their base had been struck with cluster bombs.
The strike left two people dead and another 18 injured, appearing to incapacitate at least half of the force and drawing a furious reaction from Washington.
"Russia's latest actions raise serious concern about Russian intentions," a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We will seek an explanation from Russia on why it took this action and assurances this will not happen again. " Meanwhile, Speaking in Oxfordshire, before heading to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last October, Mr Cameron said Russia's military intervention was "really making the situation worse".
"It's absolutely clear that Russia is not discriminating between Isil [IS] and the legitimate Syrian opposition groups and, as a result, they are actually backing the butcher Assad and helping him," he said.
The attack took place in al-Tanf, a southeastern village near the Jordanian and Iraqi border that the NSA recaptured from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in May last year.
Although Russia has justified military intervention in Syria with the need to fight extremist groups, its air strikes have strengthened President Bashar al-Assad’s hand and sapped rebel groups that had been fighting Isil.
The Pentagon’s $500m programme to train Syrian rebels in the fight against Isil has faced scathing criticism for being ill-conceived and largely ineffectual.
But experts say the NSA stands out as a rare success story - and it was slated to lead a crucial assault to split the extremist group’s so-called caliphate straddling Syria and Iraq.
The Kremlin appeared to confirm involvement in the attack on Friday when a spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters it was difficult to distinguish between mainstream and extremist rebel groups from the air.
Monitors say there is no known jihadist presence around al-Tanf.
The direct assault on one of Washington’s most important anti-Isil proxies will further shake the frail relationship of convenience that has developed between the US and Russia as both sides try to bring an end to Syria’s bloody civil war.
Tensions ratcheted up on Friday after news broke of an an internal document in which dozens of US State Department employees called for military action against Mr Assad's forces.
Mr Peskov warned London and Washington that strikes against the Syrian army could “plunge the region into total chaos."
Khaled al-Hammad, one of the grop’s founders, said on Friday that the al-Tanf base had only housed around 30 fighters before the attack, which killed two and wounded 18. Asking why Britain and the US had not come to the unit’s aid in their hour of need.
“We do not think they are serious about us and that is why the Russians bomb us. Because they know the US will not come to our defence, like they do with the YPG and SDF,” he said, referring to a the Kurdish-dominated force that Washington has preferred to lead the anti-Isil fight in northern Syria.
The NSA is largely made up of defected Syrian special forces and has been equipped with state-of-the-art British and US weaponry. The Pentagon has also based M142 high-mobility artillery rocket systems in Jordan to protect the group’s al-Tanf based.
It is understood that Washington and Londonplanned to back the group in the battle to retake al-Bukamal, a strategically vital border town connecting Isil’s territory in Iraq and Syria. The unit has the potential to win support there because its members are largely drawn from an umbrella fighting group in the nearby province of Deir Ezzor, now an Isil stronghold.
"Militarily this is critical to beating Isil in Syria,” said Faysal al-Itani, an expert on south Syrian rebel groups and a fellow with the Atlantic Council.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...anes-bomb-elite-british-backed-syrian-rebels/
The Russians confirm that they have no clue, and do not base their strikes on intelligence reports.
What a surprise...
LOL Only a BIG FOOL will ever believe Russia intervened in Syria because they wanted to fight ISIS.Thats the joke of the century.
. ISIS is the least of their worries to be honest.
Anyway, its obvious that the Russians don't have good intel on the ground, unlike British and U.S special forces who are usually embedded/infiltrate deep into enemy territory while making use of advanced electronic equipment to distinguish friends from foes.