France, Russia to Boost Exchange of Intelligence on ’ISIS’

Local Editor

Russia and France have agreed to bolster efforts to share intelligence relating to "ISIS" Takfiri group after the two countries vowed to cooperate militarily on the issue.

"We have agreed to strengthen our exchange of military information, both on the strikes and the location of the different groups [in Syria]," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said following talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. "Our intelligence services will strengthen their already existing ties, which require increased cooperation."

Le Drian said they had identified a method to assess the state of "ISIS" and other "terrorist groups" following airstrikes conducted by both the Russian and French air forces.

"This is not being allied, this is coordinating," Le Drian said. "The goal of these information exchanges is to assess the scope of actions that can be considered."

The two sides also agreed to share intelligence on foreign fighters having joined the ranks of militant groups in Iraq and Syria, a figure that has more than doubled since last year to at least 27,000, according to a recent report by an intelligence consultancy.

Russia's federal security service said last week that nearly 2,900 Russians are fighting or have fought with "ISIS" in Iraq and Syria.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday night that French army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre de Villiers would visit Moscow "in the near future" to maintain military contacts between the countries.

Western nations had complained that Russia is primarily bombing the so-called moderate Syrian opposition rather than targeting "ISIS" militants.

France recently deployed its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Gulf, with 26 bombers on board, for operations against "ISIS" in Iraq and Syria. Other aircraft are also stationed in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

The defense ministers' talks follow a visit to Moscow last month by French President Francois Hollande, when he sought support from Russian leader Vladimir Putin for increased action against "SISI" in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris.

The two leaders agreed to "intensify" and "coordinate" attacks, mainly by targeting the transportation of the oil products that finance the group and through the exchange of intelligence. Russian airstrikes on "ISIS" have since increased, but 80 percent of their attacks remain on Syrian rebels, according to French military sources.

Monday's talks were only the second bilateral meeting between Le Drian and Shoigu, as relations between the two ministers were suspended after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014.

The SANA state news agency reported rocket and mortar fire into several regime-controlled areas of Syria killed six civilians and wounded several more Monday.

"Terrorists who call themselves Jaish al-Islam [Army of Islam] this morning fired a mortar round into the residential district of Barzeh [north of Damascus], killing one civilian and wounding nine people," it said, citing police.

SANA also said that in second city Aleppo in the north, "rockets fired by terrorists hit a residential district, killing three girls and wounding another two."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said the dead were "sisters aged between 16 and 19."

The Observatory, which has an extensive network of informants inside Syria, also said several people were wounded by rocket fire on the regime-controlled Aleppo neighborhood of Hamdanieh.

Elsewhere, SANA said, "terrorists targeted the town of Sqailbieh [northwest of the central city of Hama] with rockets, causing the death of two civilians and wounding eight, including a child."

The Observatory reported "25 wounded" in the Christian-majority region.

More than 250,000 people had been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out nearly five years ago, and millions more had been displaced.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team