Anti-ISIL coalition slams Russia on Syria raids

Russia continued air strikes for a third day on Oct. 2, prompting Turkey and its partners in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to demand that Moscow cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and focus on fighting Islamic militants. 

The statement came hours before the diplomatic discussions surrounding the attacks heated up with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaking to his Russian counterpart on the phone. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu accused Russia on Oct. 2 of targeting moderate Syrian rebels in its air strikes in Syria to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking to Turkish reporters on his plane as he returned from the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Davuto?lu rejected Moscow's insistence that its campaign of air strikes launched this week was aimed at ISIL.

"The outcome is very worrisome," Davuto?lu was quoted as saying in several Turkish dailies, including Hurriyet and Milliyet.

Russia, however, said it had bombed the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa for the first time on the third day of its campaign. 

In a joint statement with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Gulf Arab allies, Turkey said on its Foreign Ministry's website that Russia's actions constituted a "further escalation" of the conflict and would only fuel more extremism.

"We, the governments of France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America state the following in view of the recent military actions of the Russian Federation in Syria: We express our deep concern with regard to the Russian military build-up in Syria and especially ?the attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs and Idlib since...