Russia fired on Israeli aircraft
Russian forces in Syria have fired at least twice on Israeli military aircraft, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek improved operational coordination with Moscow, Israel's top-selling newspaper said yesterday.
Asked about the alleged incidents, however, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "In this case, Israeli press reports are far from reality."
But Netanyahu, in remarks published by Israeli reporters whom he briefed by phone on his talks on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said "there have been problems" regarding Israeli military freedom of operation in Syria.
He gave no details, but said: "If you don't deal with the friction, it could develop into something more serious." The unsourced report in Yedioth Ahronoth made no mention of dates or locations for the two reported incidents.
The UN special envoy for Syria has vowed to take fragile peace talks into next week despite a walkout by the main armed opposition, a breakdown in a truce and signs that both sides are gearing up to escalate the five-year-old civil war. Staffan de Mistura, who dismissed the opposition's departure as "diplomatic posturing", expected the delegation to return to the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, air strikes on rebel-held neighbourhoods in Syria's second city Aleppo yesterday killed at least 18 civilians and wounded more than a dozen others, the local civil defence told AFP.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime warplanes carried out the air strikes and gave a toll of 10 dead. An AFP correspondent in the opposition-held eastern part said several neighbourhoods were targeted and that the wail of ambulances could be heard throughout the morning.
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