Russia strikes Syria for second day; doubts on targets

MOSCOW, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Russian airstrikes targeted Syria for a second day Thursday amid reports that Moscow is taking aim at more than Islamic State targets, including possible moderate rebel forces.

Russian airstrikes were conducted in the Homs and Hama provinces, as well as in northwest territory held by the Army of Conquest rebel alliance, a group including the al-Nusra Front -- al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate.

Russia announced it carried out eight airstrikes overnight, hitting 12 Islamic State positions within 24 hours. Eight Russian SU-24 and SU-25 jets carried out the assaults. The strikes destroyed targets including an Islamic State command center and two arms depots, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

The United States fears Russian airstrikes are targeting opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia's ally.

U.S. President Barack Obama recently reiterated the White House's call for the government of the "tyrant" Assad to be removed. Russia began conducting airstrikes in Syria after Assad asked for Moscow's help.

"At the request of the Syrian government, we're helping them to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently said.

All rebel forces in Syria, whether moderate or radical, wage war against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it was conducting the airstrikes in coordination with Assad's military.

"All the airstrikes of the Russian aviation are coordinated with the command of the Syrian Army," the ministry said in a statement. "An operational group of the Ministry of Defense of the Syrian Arab Republic is deployed at the Hmeymim airbase for these purposes."

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Russia's airstrikes in support of Syria's Assad regime were "pouring gasoline on the fire" and urged Russia to seek a political settlement in the country wracked by civil war.

Foreign Minister Lavrov responded by telling reporters "do not listen to Pentagon allegations about our airstrikes."

While the United States and allies believe ousting Assad is mandatory for a solution to the Syrian civil war, Russia believes reforms while under Assad's rule need to be enacted to create regional stability.

"I know that President Assad understands that and is ready for such a process," Russian President Vladimir Putin recently told reporters. "We hope that he will be active and flexible and ready to compromise in the name of his country and his people."

More than 250,000 people have died and more than 4 million have been displaced by the Syrian civil war. A U.S.-led coalition, now joined by France since Sunday, has carried out airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq for more than a year.

The Institute for the Study of War think tank based in Washington D.C. said Russia was targeting at least one Western-backed rebel group.

"Local Syrian sources claim the airstrikes exclusively targeted rebel positions, including the headquarters of Free Syrian Army-affiliated, Western-backed TOW anti-tank missile recipient al-Izza," the think tank reported on its website. "Although there are small ISIS 'sympathetic' cells in the rebel-held pockets of northern Homs, the Russian decision to target terrain that is held by the Syrian opposition and not ISIS signals Russia's intent to assist the Assad regime's war effort at large, beyond anti-ISIS operations."

Russia's Defense Ministry has released multiple videos of the airstrikes: