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| Syrian crisis: Russia air strikes 'strengthen IS' | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| US President Barack Obama has said the Russian bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad is driving moderate opposition underground and "only strengthening" Islamic State. | |
| Mr Obama said he rejected the Russian assertion that all armed opponents of the "brutal" Mr Assad were terrorists. | |
| Moscow insists its air strikes - now in their third day - are targeting IS. | |
| But the Syrian opposition and others have suggested non-IS rebels are bearing the brunt of Russian attacks. | |
| "The problem here is Assad and the brutality that he's inflicted on the Syrian people, and it has to stop," Mr Obama said at a White House news conference. | |
| "We're not going to co-operate with a Russian campaign to destroy anyone who is disgusted and fed up with Assad." | |
| He added: "From their [Russia's] perspective, they're all terrorists. And that's a recipe for disaster." | |
| And he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia - and another Assad ally, Iran - faced dangers ahead. | |
| "A military solution alone, an attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad and try to pacify the population is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire. It won't work. They will be there for a while if they don't take a different course." | |
| Russian air strikes - in depth | |
| Where key countries stand - Who is backing whom | |
| Why? What? How? - Five things you need to know about Russia's involvement | |
| What can Russia's air force do? - The US-led coalition has failed to destroy IS. Can Russia do any better? | |
| Media offensive - What does the campaign look like through the lens of Russian media? | |
| Inside an air strike - Activist describes "frightening Russian air strike" | |
| Syria's civil war | |
| Why is there a war in Syria? | |
| Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that four years on has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory. | |
| Who is fighting whom? | |
| Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other. | |
| What's the human cost? | |
| More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed and a million injured. Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe. | |
| How has the world reacted? | |
| Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes. | |
| The battle for Syria and Iraq in maps | |
| Syria's civil war explained |