Moscow said yesterday that its latest strikes had hit 12 Islamic State targets that included a command post and a communications centre in the province of Aleppo, a militant field camp in Idlib and a command post in Hama.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its Sukhoi-34, Sukhoi-24M and Sukhoi-25 warplanes had flown 18 sorties hitting targets since Thursday, Reuters reported.
The US-led coalition that is waging its own air war against IS called on the Russians to halt strikes on targets other than IS.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict with a network of sources on the ground, said there was no Islamic State presence at any of those areas.
Russia has however also struck IS areas in a small number of other attacks further east. The Observatory said 12 IS fighters were killed near Raqqa on Thursday, and planes believed to be Russian had also struck the IS-held city of Qarytayn.
Russia has said it is using its most advanced plane, the Sukhoi-34, near Raqqa, the area where it is most likely to encounter US and coalition aircraft targeting Islamic State.
The US-led coalition said it conducted 28 air strikes on IS targets in Syria and Iraq on Thursday. It condemned Russia for killing civilians and not targeting IS forces in its deadly bombing raids on Syria.
The UK, US, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey voiced “deep concern” over Moscow’s actions. They said in a statement that they are especially concerned about “attacks by the Russian Air Force on Hama, Homs and Idlib which led to civilian casualties and did not target IS.