Russia pounded the jihadist group in Syria, firing cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea after President Vladimir Putin vowed retaliation for a bombing that brought down a Russian airliner in Egypt last month.
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“Since November 15, the Syrian air force carried out 114 sorties and destroyed 447 targets in the Damascus, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Latakia provinces”.
Russian Federation for a second day running sent long-distance bombers to attack targets in the IS-held Raqa and Deir Ezzor provinces.
Russian television showed a man scrawling “For our people!” and “For Paris!” in black pen on bombs minutes before a warplane was set to take off from the country’s airbase in Syria.
“In just the first few days, our aviation has destroyed 500 fuel tanker trucks, which greatly reduced illegal oil export capabilities of the militants and, accordingly, their income from oil smuggling”, Kartapolov stressed.
More than 1,300 people, around two-thirds of them combatants, have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria since Moscow’s aerial campaign began on September 30, a monitor said today.
Russian Federation is now conducting a bombing campaign in Syria at the request of its long-standing ally President Bashar Assad, while a U.S.-led coalition is carrying out separate strikes against IS.
Moscow has been pushing for the creation of a broad coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, which would include Russian Federation, the West and a few Middle Eastern states.
Mr Putin said Russian Federation still faced a lot of work.
The new draft resolution still contains that provision, said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, but he downplayed disagreements. “I don’t see it as a huge gap”.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre said he was working “to prepare a text that will be short, strong and focused on the fight against our common enemy, Daesh (IS)”.
Russia this week launched massive strikes on Raqqa in response to confirmation that the group had blown up a plane full of Russian tourists over Sinai in Egypt.
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While the three-pronged assault increases pressure on Islamic State, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed skepticism over the aims of the US military operation.
