War on Isis: Russia accuses Washington of not cooperating with Moscow in Syria

Russia's defence minister has accused the United States of not cooperating with Moscow in military efforts to tackle Islamist extremists in Syria.

Sergei Shoigu has claimed that despite a promise both sides made to work together, Washington was not keeping Russia in the loop over the whereabouts of fighters from Islamic State and al-Nusra Front.

"We say to our (US) colleagues, tell us, where is the moderate opposition? This was our first question {...} Tells us where exactly we need to strike and where in your opinion exactly are the Isis terrorists {...} We got no answer.

"Therefore, there are many things that need to be addressed with our American colleagues. They may not be correctly interpreting or understanding what is going on there ," he told Russian state TV news channel Vesti.

Washington gives support to moderate opposition groups but accuses Russia of deliberately targeting them. Shoigu was critical of how the US classified "moderate opposition" fighters.

"They arm him with a mine, strap 200kg of explosives to him and he goes flying. Is that the moderate opposition that we are not letting leave the city [of Aleppo]? Who is it then?" Shoigu said, adding that "it would be good if our Turkish colleagues took control of the border between Turkey and Syria".

On Monday 15 August, at least 25 people were killed and 25 more injured when a suicide bomber struck on a bus which was carrying opposition figures in Syria's Idlib province, near the Atmeh border crossing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It added that Russian and Syrian government airstrikes had increased in the rebel-held Idlib province, which had seen 26 strikes on Sunday (15 August), killing 122 civilians.

However, there were joyous scenes in the northern town of Manbij when the last Isis militants were ousted and more than 2,000 civilian hostages were released.