UK says Russian strikes against Syria rebels helping IS

Russian airstrikes in Syria are still targeting opponents of President Assad and helping the Islamist forces they claim to be trying to defeat, said UK Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond.

He told parliament Russian operations in the last fortnight had given so-called Islamic State (IS) the chance to "to seek advantage on the ground" .

"It is unacceptable that Russian action is weakening the opposition and thus giving advantage to the very Daesh forces that they claim to be against," Hammond said, using the more derogatory names for so-called IS.

"The majority of Russian air strikes continue to target Syrian opposition forces," he said.

"In the last two weeks the Russians have attacked opposition forces between Homs and Aleppo, as well as in the far north of Syria, and in doing so have allowed Daesh to seek advantage on the ground.”