Putin vows tough military action in Syria

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered his forces in Syria to take tough action against any threats, speaking two weeks after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in the war-torn country.
"I order you to act as tough as possible," he told a defense meeting. "Any targets threatening the Russian grouping or our land infrastructure should be immediately destroyed. I would like to warn those who would once again try to organised some sort of provocations against our servicemen," he said in a thinly veiled threat to Ankara.
Last month, Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, claiming it violated Turkish airspace.
After the downing of the jet, which led to the deaths of a pilot and another serviceman who tried to rescue him, Russia introduced economic sanctions against Turkey and After the downing of the jet, which led to the deaths of a pilot and another serviceman who tried to rescue him, Russia introduced economic sanctions against Turkey and killing civilians in Syria.
Syria's rebel forces have regularly rejected the possibility of cooperating with the regime or Russia and there has been no evidence of such cooperation. When Russia said in October it was ready to provide air support for Western-backed moderate rebels battling both jihadis and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, those groups ridiculed Moscow, urging it to stop bombing them first.
Russia has been carrying out air strikes in the war-ravaged nation at Assad's request since the end of September, while a US-led coalition is conducting its own campaign targeting the IS group.
Earlier this week Russia said it hit IS targets with missiles fired from a submarine in the Mediterranean for the first time since launching the campaign. Putin rejected claims that Russia is using the Syrian campaign to showcase its top weapons to the West.
"Our actions there are not guided by some unclear abstract geopolitical interests, nor are they guided by a desire to practice and test new weapons systems which is of course important in itself," Putin said. "The most important thing is to prevent the threat to Russia itself." Defence minister Sergei Shoigu said IS jihadis now control 70% of Syrian territory, putting their number at 60,000.

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Threat from radical jihadism now more complex, challenging: Clinton

Asserting that the threat from radical jihadism has metastasized and become more complex and challenging, leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said the results of radicalism have now reached American shores.

In her remarks before the top American think tank, Ms. Clinton stressed the importance of cracking down on the ability of ISIS and other terrorist groups to communicate and spread propaganda online.

“The need for action (against terrorists) is urgent. ...

The threat from radical jihadism has metastasized and become more complex and challenging. We’re seeing the results of radicalism not just in far-off lands but right here at home, fuelled by the Internet,” Ms. Clinton said in her address to the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum 2015.

“It’s the nexus of terrorism and technology and we have a lot of work to do to end it. As hard as this is, Americans now has to move from fear to resolve. America has beaten bigger threats before, and we will defeat this one as well,” she said.

Resolve, she said, means depriving jihadists of virtual territory just as the U.S. works to deprive them of actual territory. They are using websites, social media, chat rooms, and other platforms to celebrate beheadings, recruit future terrorists, and call for attacks.

“We should work with host companies to shut them down.

It’s time for an urgent dialogue between the government and not just our government, but government and the high-tech community to confront this problem together,” Ms. Clinton said.

The former Secretary of State said the goal should be to defeat ISIS and not contain them.

“Muslim-Americans are our neighbours, co-workers, loved ones, friends. Many are working every day all over our country to prevent radicalisation. We should be supporting them, not scapegoating them,” she said.

“But at the same time, none of us can close our eyes to the fact that we do face enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. We have to stop them and we will. Radical jihadists, like so many adversaries in our history, underestimate the strength of our national character,” she asserted.

“Americans will not cower or cave. And we will not turn on each other or turn on our principles. We will defeat those who threaten us,” she said.

Ms. Clinton said on Sunday, three trends in the region and the world are converging and making its alliance with Israel more indispensable than ever.

“The first is a rising tide of extremism across a wide arc of instability from North Africa to South Asia. The second is Iran’s continued aggression. And the third is the growing effort to de-legitimise Israel on the world stage. America and Israel need to address these threats together. And we must take an already strong relationship to the next level,” she said.

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