
Putin should demand their unconditional surrender or be slaughtered like pigs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ebels.html
Barack Obama urges Russia to stop bombing 'moderate' Syria rebels
Russian air strikes are credited with helping Bashar al-Assad's forces close in on Aleppo, in what could prove a decisive victory
PS:CNN report today.NATO /Rand analysis.Russia will overwhelm NATO forces in the Baltic states within 3 days! No way NATO can prevent Russia from retaking the Baltic states anytime it chooses. Russia has overwhelming mil superiority.
By Reuters
14 Feb 2016
Barack Obama urged Russia on Sunday to stop bombing moderate rebels in Syria in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, a campaign seen in the West as a major obstacle to latest efforts to end the war.
Major powers agreed on Friday to a limited cessation of hostilities in Syria but the deal does not take effect until the end of this week and was not signed by any warring parties - the Damascus government and numerous rebel factions fighting it.
Russian bombing raids directed at rebel groups are helping the Syrian army to achieve what could be its biggest victory of the war in the battle for Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial centre before the conflict.
Just met Syrian rebel who returned from Marea, N-Aleppo country side. "Since Russian bombings we live like rabbits - in holes under ground."
— Harald Doornbos (@HaraldDoornbos) February 14, 2016
There is little optimism that the deal reached in Munich will do much to end a war that has lasted five years and cost 250,000 lives.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin and Mr Obama had spoken by telephone and agreed to intensify cooperation to implement the Munich agreement.
But a Kremlin statement made clear Russia was committed to its campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and "other terrorist organisations", an indication that it would also target groups in western Syria where jihadists such as al-Qaeda are fighting Mr Assad in close proximity to rebels deemed moderate by the West.
Syrian children wait to return to their country at the Turkish border crossing with Syria in the outskirts of Kilis, southeastern Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016Syrian children wait to return to their country at the Turkish border crossing with Syria in the outskirts of Kilis Photo: AP
Russia says the "cessation" does not apply to its air strikes, which have shifted the balance of power towards Mr Assad.
It says Isil and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front are the main targets of its air campaign. But Western countries say Russia has in fact been mostly targeting other insurgent groups, including some they support.
The White House said Mr Obama's discussion with Mr Putin stressed the need to rush humanitarian aid to Syria and contain air strikes.
"In particular, President Obama emphasised the importance now of Russia playing a constructive role by ceasing its air campaign against moderate opposition forces in Syria," the White House said in a statement.
A fighter from Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army), a rebel group who oppose the regime and IS militants, runs from government forces during clashes in Harasta Qantara, on the eastern outskirts of Damascus
Relief workers said efforts to deliver humanitarian aid were being threatened by the latest escalation of violence.
"We must ask again, why wait a week for this urgently needed cessation of hostilities?" said Dalia al-Awqati, Mercy Corps director of programs for North Syria.
• While peacemakers talk, Aleppo's children pay the price of Syria's war
The situation in Syria has been complicated by the involvement of Kurdish-backed combatants in the area north of Aleppo near the Turkish border, which has drawn a swift military response from artillery in Turkey.
Assad appeared bolstered by his recent military gains
The Kurdish YPG militia, helped by Russian air raids, seized an ex-military air base at Menagh last week, angering Turkey, which sees the YPG as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish group that waged a bloody insurgent campaign on Turkish soil over most of the past three decades.
Turkey began shelling while demanding that the YPG militia withdraw from areas it has captured from Syrian rebels in the northern Aleppo region in recent days, including the Menagh air base. The bombardment killed two YPG fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.