The Russian defence ministry denied any of the missiles had fallen short of their targets after reports of crashes first emerged on US television.
Advertisement
Russian Federation fired cruise missiles at Syrian targets this week without giving any advanced notice, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday, describing a trend of unpredictable military action that has put the United States and its allies on edge.
“Nato has already responded by increasing our capacity, our ability, our preparedness to deploy forces including to the south, including in Turkey”, he said, noting that Russia’s air and cruise missile strikes were “reasons for concern”.
Russian Federation launched a series of cruise missiles from its ships Wednesday, supporting a new push by Syrian government troops.
“To the dismay of our friends in the Pentagon and Langley, our strike yesterday with precision-guided weapons at ISIS infrastructure in Syria hit its targets”, the statement read.
“At least 13 regime forces were killed…”
In the nearby village of Kafr Nabuda, rebel forces shot down a low-flying military helicopter, but it was unclear if the aircraft was Syrian or Russian, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The talks, he said, also encompassed the importance of advancing a political transition away from Syrian President Bashar Assad and toward a new government.
The Gulf official also added that four years after the start of the Syrian conflict and after thousands of deaths, neither the West nor the Gulf states have a strategy for resolving it. He said that there is a need for clearer USA leadership and that the worst thing the West can do at the moment is to accept a compromise with Assad, even for a limited period of time.
“Today, the Syrian Arab armed forces began a wide-ranging attack with the aim of eliminating the terrorist groups and liberating the areas and towns that suffered from their scourge and crimes, ” Ayoub said in rare televised remarks.
The Russian Navy has also been taking part in the battle against the terrorists by launching missiles at the Daesh targets in Syria from its warships in the Caspian Sea waters.
All at once the Caspian Sea strike showed both the ability of a few of its platforms to conduct long range land attack strikes like the US and the limitations of its older ships. Moscow’s support for the Assad regime, he insisted, was not a constructive policy.
But the more mainstream Iranian Fars News Service said USA officials’ reports on the missile crashes were “psychological operations by the US against Moscow”.
Advertisement
Neighboring Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member, has been angered by violations of its air space by Russian warplanes and the Western alliance said it was prepared to send troops to Turkey to defend it.
