Russia pounds IS in Syria

Russia has bombed the Islamic State group in the heaviest strikes in eastern Syria since the war began, as Moscow's military manoeuvres in the Mediterranean forced Lebanon to reroute flights.

Russian and Syrian warplanes carried out at least 70 strikes in eastern Deir Ezzor province on Friday, killing at least 36 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based group said the raids hit several cities and towns in the province, as well as three oilfields, and were the heaviest bombardment of the region since the conflict began in March 2011.

The Russian military said it fired 18 cruise missiles on Friday, destroying seven "Islamist" targets in Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo provinces. The long-range missiles were launched from Caspian Sea warships.

In four days of heavy bombing against IS, Russia's defence ministry said, more than 100 cruise missiles were launched and more than 800 "terrorist" targets destroyed in Syria.

In a Russian defence ministry video, soldiers can be seen writing messages on bombs, which would be used against IS militants, before loading them onto the aircraft - phrases like: "This is revenge for our dead" and "This is for Paris".

According to the Observatory, Russia's strikes have killed more than 1,300 people since they began, a third of them civilians.

But President Vladimir Putin said the current level of attacks was not enough to defeat so-called Islamic State (IS).

Putin yesterday said global cooperation was needed to confront terrorism in the wake of an Islamist militant attack targeting foreigners in a luxury hotel in Mali that killed 19 people.

Putin sent a telegram of condolences to Mali President Keita and said "the widest international cooperation" was needed to confront global terrorism, according to a statement by the Kremlin.

On Tuesday, Putin promised to hunt down Islamist militants responsible for blowing up a Russian airliner over Egypt on Oct. 31 as well as intensified air strikes against militants in Syria, after the Kremlin concluded a bomb had destroyed the plane, killing 224 people.

Russia's military involvement in Syria has stirred tensions with Turkey, which backs the uprising against Assad .

And yesterday, flights in and out of Lebanon were being forced to take longer routes, with some airlines cancelling services, after Moscow requested flights avoid a portion of airspace over the Mediterranean, a Lebanese minister said. There was no confirmation from Moscow of the request, but a Lebanese airport official later said that departing flights would be directed to first fly south over Sidon and Sarafand to "keep them away from the perimeter of the manoeuvres."

In France meanwhile, the president's office said Francois Hollande would meet British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday to discuss the Syrian conflict and the threat posed by jihadists.

Hollande is also set to meet next week with US President Barack Obama, Russia's Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the wake of France's worst-ever terror attack.