France’s Hollande and Putin face off over Syria at Paris talks

The talks in the French capital came as France and the US expressed concern that the Russian air force is concentrating its attacks on groups opposed to the embattled regime of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, instead of specifically on the Islamic State group.

Russia strongly denies these claims.

The aide to the French president did not say if they had succeeded in any way in the 1hour 15-minute conversation, but that they did discuss the three conditions required by France for cooperation with Russia in Syria. The source said that these conditions are: only targetting Islamic State militants and al Qaeda, ensuring the safety of civilians, and a political transition that will see the departure of Assad.

Both Hollande and Putin looked stern and tense as the French leader welcomed his Russian counterpart to the Elysée Palace in the heart of the capital, exchanging a brief handshake in front the world’s press.

The summit had been scheduled to negotiate a fragile peace deal in Ukraine, but has been entirely overshadowed by the situation in Syria and Russia’s dramatic military intervention.

Russian strikes continue in Syria

Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes continued in Syria on Friday. Moscow's defence ministry said that its war planes had "conducted 18 sorties on 12 positions held by the Islamic State militant group (IS) in Syria" since Thursday.

In the strikes, at least 12 members of IS were reportedly killed in Russia's first air strikes on the extremist faction's main Syrian stronghold.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those strikes had killed at least a dozen IS group fighters.

Activists and residents in Raqqa said the IS group had canceled Friday prayers and emptied mosques in the city in fear of additional Russian strikes.

Russian aerial attacks also targeted the Army of Conquest, the most powerful Islamist coalition taking on Syrian regime forces in the country's northwest, a security source on the ground said. The Army of Conquest is fiercely opposed to both the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the IS group.

Airstrikes in Aleppo

Russia's defence ministry confirmed it had carried out strikes on Raqqa province on Thursday, as well as raids on the provinces of Aleppo in the north, Idlib in the northwest, and Hama in the centre.

The ministry said its raids had "completely destroyed" bunkers and weapons depots in Maaret al-Numan and Habeet in Idlib province. Russian aerial attacks also struck "an IS command post" in Kafr Zeita in Hama province.

However, according to the Observatory, none of these areas are controlled by the IS group. Kafr Zeita is held by Islamist rebels, while the areas in Idlib and Aleppo are held by a jihadist group that rivals IS, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the al-Nusra Front.

Abdel Rahman had told AFP that seven civilians, including two children, were killed in Russian air attacks on Idlib province late Thursday.

(FRANCE 24 with REUTERS and AFP)