Russian jets pound Syria as Obama urges Putin to stop violence

Violence raged across Syria on Sunday as Barack Obama urged Vladimir Putin to stop Russian bombing of mainstream rebels in an attempt to make diplomatic progress on a limited and temporary ceasefire that is supposed to come into effect this week.

Russian fighter jets continued to pound targets over the weekend and Turkey was drawn further into the conflict, shelling Kurdish positions in northern Syria for a second day amid growing alarm in Ankara that the Kurds are taking advantage of a political vacuum in the region.

The renewed violence threatens to end a fragile deal agreed by major powers in Munich last week which calls for a “cessation of hostilities” within a week and the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged areas. The deal excludes military operations against the Islamic State terror group and al-Qaida’s wing in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra.

An aerial campaign by Moscow launched last autumn and intensified in recent weeks has driven the most significant gains by the regime of Bashar al-Assadsince the start of the war, having primarily targeted mainstream rebels bent on overthrowing him.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that Obama and Putin had discussed the crisis in a telephone call, agreeing that the deal reached in Munich was a positive step and pledging to implement the ceasefire and the delivery of aid. 

But the White House said Obama had “in particular” stressed the need to contain airstrikes. “President Obama emphasised the importance now of Russia playing a constructive role by ceasing its air campaign against moderate opposition forces in Syria,” it said. 

Echoing the call for Moscow to end its assaults on moderate opposition fighters, Britain’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said: “There is one man on this planet who can end the civil war in Syria by making a phonecall and that’s Mr Putin.”

But even as the appeals were made, Moscow continued to bomb areas in the provinces of Latakia and Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group with wide contacts inside Syria, said Russian warplanes carried out an intense bombardment in northern Aleppo backing an offensive by troops loyal to Assad.