BEIRUT (AP) — The latest developments after Syrian troops, emboldened by Russian airstrikes, launch a ground offensive against insurgents (all times local).

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2:55 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says French President Francois Hollande last week suggested that government forces in Syria form an alliance with the opposition's Free Syrian Army.

Putin was in Paris on Friday for talks with Hollande as well as the leaders of Germany and Ukraine.

Putin said in televised remarks Wednesday that he found Hollande's idea "interesting" but insisted Moscow still has too little information on the Free Syrian Army. He says "we still don't know where it is and who leads it."

But the Russian leader added that "since (the Free Syrian Army) is supposed to be the combat unit of the so-called healthy opposition, it would create good conditions for a political settlement in Syria if they could join forces against the common enemy, terrorists, the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and others."

2:40 p.m.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Russia is using warships in the Caspian Sea to target the Islamic State group in Syria.

Russia last week began carrying out airstrikes in Syria in what it said was a pre-emptive operation against terrorism in the Middle East.

Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin in televised remarks that Russia on Wednesday morning carried out 26 missile strikes from four warships of its Caspian Sea flotilla. Shoigu insisted the operation destroyed all the targets and did not launch any strikes upon civilian areas.

2:30 p.m.

A Syrian official says a ground offensive has been launched in central regions of the country amid intense shelling and Russian airstrikes.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the operations are concentrated in the neighboring provinces of Hama and Idlib.

Activists and rebels say Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes battled insurgents in central Syria on Wednesday in the first major ground fighting since Moscow began launching air raids on militants last week.

The Russian airstrikes appear to have emboldened Syrian troops to launch a ground offensive after suffering a string of setbacks in northwestern Syria over the past few months.

The Islamic State group is not present in the areas where the fighting is underway.

— Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria.

2:20 p.m.

A Syrian official says Syrian troops backed by Russian airstrikes have launched a ground offensive against insurgents in central Syria.