Russian strikes will ‘inflame’ Syrian war,

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, visibly frustrated at Russia's air campaign over Syria, warned Wednesday that while he's taking "the Russians at their word" about their intentions in the country, he thinks the strikes will "backfire" and only serve to "inflame" the civil war. Further, even as he indicated he might trust the Russians' statements, Carter challenged Moscow's claims that they're limiting strikes to Islamic State targets. Without going into specifics, Carter told reporters it appears Russian airstrikes Wednesday "were in areas where there probably ... were not ISIL forces."Russia escalated the Syrian conflict early Wednesday by launching an aerial bombardment against opposition targets inside Syria. The Obama administration -- whose officials, including President Obama himself, met with their Russian counterparts in recent weeks to discuss Syria -- appeared to be caught off guard by the development. Top administration officials on Wednesday delivered a nuanced message to Moscow in response. Earlier in the day, Secretary of State John Kerry told the United Nations Security Council the U.S. would not object to Russians hitting Islamic State or Al Qaeda targets but airstrikes just to strengthen the hand of Syrian President Bashar Assad would be worrisome. Carter appeared to take a somewhat tougher tone, in saying it appears Russia already is hitting areas with no ISIS forces. He said the underlying problem is Russia is trying to both fight ISIS while supporting Assad, which he said would only escalate the civil war. This approach, he added, creates the potential for striking non-ISIS locations. "The result of this kind of action will inevitably simply be to inflame the civil war in Syria," he said. "It's ill-advised to take this kind of action in support of Assad, only without pursuing a political transition."