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PM: Russia Backs 'Butcher' Assad With Strikes

Russian strikes in Syria are hitting citizens and helping the "butcher" Assad's regime, David Cameron has said.

The Prime Minister said that Vladmir Putin's military intervention was "making the situation worse" and called for regime change in Syria to end the fighting.

Mr Cameron said: "It's absolutely clear that Russia is not discriminating between Isil and the legitimate Syrian opposition groups and as a result they are actually backing the butcher Assad and helping him and really making the situation worse.

"Rightly they have been condemned across the Arab world for what they have done and I think the Arab world is right about that.

"But we should be using this moment now to try to force forward a comprehensive plan to bring political transition in Syria because that is the answer for bringing peace to the region."

Mr Cameron's comments, on the eve of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, echo those of his Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon.

Mr Fallon said Ministry of Defence intelligence suggested only one in 20 raids had hit IS targets and said the "vast majority" were killing civilians and Free Syrian forces fighting Bashar Assad's forces.

"We're analysing where the strikes are going every morning. The vast majority are not against IS at all," Mr Fallon told The Sun.

"Our evidence indicates they are dropping unguided munitions in civilian areas, killing civilians, and they are dropping them against the Free Syrian forces fighting Assad.

"He's shoring up Assad and perpetuating the suffering."

Mr Fallon said he still believed Britain should extend its bombing campaign to include Syria, although it has been suggested that the Russian intervention could delay what had been thought to be an imminent Commons vote on the issue.

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It would be "morally wrong" not to target IS in Syria, he said, adding: "We can't leave it to French and Australian, American aircraft to keep our own British streets safe."

British military intervention in Syria has been a sticky issue for David Cameron since he was defeated by Ed Miliband in a Commons vote in 2013 on whether to launch strikes against Assad.

Labour subsequently said it could support strikes against IS in the country depending on the Government's case, however, that was before Jeremy Corbyn became leader.

Mr Corbyn has made clear he does not support action in Syria, although his shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said this week the party's MPs would be given a free vote on the issue.

Key shadow cabinet members, including the shadow foreign secretary and the shadow justice secretary, Hilary Benn and Lord Falconer, have said they would consider supporting strikes against IS.

The SNP has said it will oppose military intervention in Syria.

A statement issued by the UK, US, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Thursday condemned the Russian involvement, stating it did not target IS - also known as Daesh or Isil.

They said: "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 which led to civilian casualties and did not target Daesh.

"These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalisation."

They called on Mr Putin’s to stop the attacks in Syria.

Former senior military adviser Lt Gen Sir Simon Mayall described the UK's response as "inadequate" when faced with the scale of the IS advance.

"If we genuinely want to stop this and reverse it we are going to have to do more than have high-flown rhetoric because this is a really seriously dangerous situation on the ground ... and our response frankly is inadequate for the scale of the problem that we've got," he told the BBC's Newsnight: