Putin seeks map of forces not to bomb in Syria

PARIS: Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked France to draw up a map of where groups fighting Islamic State militants operate in Syria in order not to bomb them, France's foreign minister said on Friday.

Putin agreed with French President Francois Hollande on Thursday at the Kremlin to target Islamic State and similar extremist groups in Syria.



"He asked us to draw up a map of forces that are not terrorists and are fighting Daesh (Islamic State). He committed to not bombing them once we've provided that," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on RTL after accompanying Hollande to Moscow.



The West has accused Moscow of targetting mostly-Western backed rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Fabius also said Paris could send special forces to Syria, but that any such decision would not be made public.