Russian President Vladimir Putin's bullish entry into the Syrian conflict has worked wonders for his popularity in neighboring Iraq, where some await "Hajji Putin" like a savior.

Sitting at his easel in his central Baghdad workshop, painter Mohammed Karim Nihaya touches up a portrait of Putin he copied from the Internet.

French President Francois Hollande did not suggest forming an alliance between Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and the moderate opposition Free Syrian Army, an aide said Wednesday, contradicting comments by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"The president spoke of the necessary presence of the Syrian opposition around a future negotiating table. The rest is not a French idea," a member of Hollande's entourage told reporters during a visit to Strasbourg.

The Russian air campaign in Syria has thrown an immense obstacle in the way of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's vision for the future of the country, enraging the Turkish leader and leaving Ankara increasingly sidelined.

Russia's air strikes are aimed at propping up the regime of President Bashar Assad, the very ruler who Turkey has for years insisted must be ousted if there is to be any solution to the Syrian crisis.

Russia carried out a third day of air strikes in Syria on Friday and said it had hit Islamic State's 'capital' as President Vladimir Putin faced mounting international criticism over his military campaign.

Moscow said it had bombed "an IS training camp" and a command post in the IS bastion f Raqa on Thursday, but on Friday it targeted rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Syria's embattled leader Bashar Assad must be ready for compromise with the opposition as Russia launched its first air strikes in the war-torn country.

"We are counting on his active and flexible position, his readiness for compromise for the sake of his country and his people," Putin said at a televised government meeting.

Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria on Wednesday, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.

Russian warplanes carried out strikes in several Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Vladimir Putin seeks to steal U.S. President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Islamic State militants in Syria.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has warned that Israel will not tolerate advanced weapons reaching Hizbullah, which has fought alongside Syrian troops.

“Those who try to violate our sovereignty – we will strike them, and those who try to transfer advanced weapons to terror elements, with an emphasis on Hizbullah, we will strike them, and those who try to transfer chemical weapons to terror elements, we will strike them,” Yaalon said on Tuesday during a visit to Gaza-border communities.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko used his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to rail against Russian aggression, urging the world not to believe "conciliatory" statements from his counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The Russian leader called Monday for a broad U.N.-backed coalition to fight the Islamic State group as he seeks to muscle his way back onto the world stage after months of isolation over Ukraine.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Tuesday slammed her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for a speech he delivered at the United Nations General Assembly that she said was reminiscent of Soviet-era totalitarianism.

The outspoken leader of the formerly Soviet-ruled, EU state said Putin's criticism of the West suggested he "was still living in the 20th century".

Moscow said on Tuesday that Russia and the United States intended to build upon a key meeting between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama and look for ways to fight the Islamic State group.

The Russian president stole the show at the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, calling for a broad U.N.-backed coalition to fight Islamic State jihadists.