The US military and its allies hit Islamic State (Isis) forces with 15 air strikes in Iraq and Syria during a three-day period, US Central Command said on Friday.  Thirteen attacks have been carried out in Iraq since Wednesday, while two more targeted Isis fighters in Syria.  Syria’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said US-led air strikes had failed to weaken Isis in Syria. Walid al-Moualem added that the jihadist group would not be tackled unless Turkey was forced to tighten border controls.  The US-led air strikes in Syria hit an Isis fighting position and staging area near Kobani, as well as a tactical unit near Aleppo, Central Command said.  In Iraq, bunkers, vehicles, a bulldozer, and a fighting position were destroyed near Kirkuk, and a large unit and four tactical units also were hit in five air strikes. Near Mosul, two raids destroyed vehicles and a heavy weapon, while another tactical unit was hit near Ramadi.  Isis vehicles, tactical units, a fighting position, and a building were hit in strikes near the Iraqi cities of Ar Rutbah, Falluja, Al Qaim, and Baiji, Central Command said.  Moualem, meanwhile, said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV, broadcast on Friday: “All the indications say that [Islamic State] today, after two months of coalition air strikes, is not weaker.”  The Syrian government has said it was willing to join the fight against Isis, but the US refuses to deal with President Bashar al-Assad, who it says has lost legitimacy and must leave power.  “If the [UN] security council and Washington do not force Turkey to control its borders then all of this action will not eliminate [Isis],” Moualem said, referring to foreign jihadists who have crossed into Syria from Turkey.  Turkey, which has a 560-mile frontier with Syria, has strongly denied accusations it has supported militant Islamists, inadvertently or otherwise, in its enthusiasm to help Syrian rebels topple Assad.  Moualem said Turkish calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone in northern Syria would lead to the partition of the country, adding that Turkey had designs on Syrian territory.  Moualem held talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the Black Sea, as part of a renewed Russian diplomatic push to restart peace talks on Syria. The effort is unlikely to get far because Russia rejects calls by Assad’s Syrian, Western and Arab opponents for his swift departure.  “After our discussions with the Russian side we agreed that the dialogue will be with the national opposition that is not linked to the outside,” Moualem said.
Series of US military air strikes hit Isis in Iraq and Syria as Syrian minister says Turkey must tighten border controls