Russian jets carried out a second day of airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, but there were conflicting claims about whether they were targeting Islamic State and al-Qaida militants or trying to shore up the defenses of President Bashar Assad.
As concerns grew about a conflict that has now drawn in warplanes from the world's two most powerful militaries, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied reports that civilians were killed in any Russian airstrikes.
"We are ready for such information attacks," he said in a live broadcast from the Kremlin. "The first reports of civilian casualties came even before our jets took off."
U.S. and Russian military officials began talks on Thursday on ways to avoid their forces firing on each other in Syria.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country and the U.S.-coalition "see eye-to-eye" on the targets of the fight in Syria. He added that "we believe that our position is absolutely in line with international law."



The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling and found the UK government’s ban...
A drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar region in the...
Abdullah Ibrahim, the South African jazz pianist deemed his country's equivalent to Mozart by Nelson Mandela,...
On 3 June, for the first time, Germany failed to secure a rotating seat on the...





























