Seems to be some disagreement with the Putin Plan. The refugee crisis doesn't seem to be hurting Russia, but who wants to go there.

Syrian rebels decry Russian airstrikes: 'we have not had Isis here in over a year'

Bunkered down in his base just north of Hama, Captain Mustafa of the Free Syria Army (FSA) is getting used to the Russian airstrikes. And he is growing just as accustomed to the assurances of his American backers: “We can have most of the weapons we want,” he says. “But nothing to shoot down the planes.”

More than a week since the Russian strikes began targeting them, and days after the US announced an end to its efforts to train forces to fight Isis, the original anti-Assad rebels of Syria’s north-west remain entrenched, though battered, in the towns and villages of their heartland.

Nearby, Syrian forces, which had barely moved for the past year, are trying to advance from the south, said Mustafa, the military spokesman of an FSA unit, Tajamul Ala’Azza. Further away in the north-east, Isis has made its strongest gains in many months, advancing across the top of Aleppo, while a mix of opposition groups clash nearby with Russian jets and artillery.

“The Russians have given them a boost, which is what they wanted to do by attacking the Syrian people,” said Mustafa. “The biggest disaster for them would be to acknowledge that a real opposition remains defiant and strong.


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Rebels in the vicinity of the regime strongholds of Tartous and Latakia, and the nearby Alawite hinterland, have been hit especially hard in the Russian offensive which was touted as a campaign against Isis, but which the US, Nato, and rebel groups claim has almost exclusively targeted non-jihadi opposition groups.

Other rebel groups in Idlib province have also been pounded and fear that Russia’s strategy is to destroy the opposition, leaving only the regime army and Isis standing. The Russian offensive west of Aleppo has stymied an opposition squeeze on the city. Meanwhile, Isis’s moves since Thursday have seen the terror group gain more ground than it had in many months.

“While the Russians were busy attacking us, they left [Isis] completely alone. Do I really need to spell out what’s behind all that?” asked Abu Saleh, a commander of an Islamist group near the town of Hreitan.


Over the past two years, the US has tried to vet rebel groups in the Mediterranean heartland and along the Jordanian border, where Isis has been unable to establish a foothold. It has frequently been at odds with Turkey, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who have all urged that battle-changing weapons, such as anti-aircraft rockets be handed over. Washington has consistently refused their introduction, fearing that they could instead be used to attack civilian aircraft in Syria, and elsewhere.

As the Russian attacks continue, new waves of refugees are on the move in Syria’s north. “Our families are trapped and there is nowhere to go to apart from hiding under the trees by the Turkish borders,” said al-Majad. “We prefer to die with dignity in our towns than dying in shame under the trees.”

Residents in the areas hit by Moscow late last week described widespread destruction of houses and buildings. “The destruction is incredible, and all of them are civilian homes,” said Adnan Kanjo, the head of the local council in Derrat al-Izza in western Aleppo. “This is the first time we see destruction at this scale. There is intense fear and terror – we can’t even open our schools.”


“The regime’s planes could bomb maybe one or two buildings, but now a whole district is destroyed. There is no specific time and we can’t take any more precautions. If you are destined to get killed you will get killed.

“These Russian warplanes say they are targeting Daesh [Isis],” he added. “Well, we have not had Daesh here in over a year. Marea [which Isis is besieging] is 60km away. And al-Bab [which it controls] is over 100km away. The bombing is targeting civilians. And where are the people going to go? I leave this question to be answered by the people who still have a conscience.”


“The main thing the regime has achieved is displacing civilians, and this trend will grow and these people will reach the border and try to leave Syria for Europe and other places, because there is no safe place for them or their children, and civil society cannot provide for their needs.”

With little access to opposition areas of Syria, aid agencies say it is next to impossible to quantify how many civilians have been displaced by the intensified fighting. Civic leaders in Idlib and Hama say thousands of families have left for the Turkish border, intending to join the migration route to Europe.

“They are not running from [Isis],” said Mahmoud Qubaisi, a resident of the Hama countryside. They stayed because there is no Isis here. We’re the ones who chased the terrorists away more than a year and a half ago. Not the Russians.”
Syrian rebels decry Russian airstrikes: 'we have not had Isis here in over a year' | World news | The Guardian