The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says that in the Russian Defence Ministry video soldiers can be seen writing messages on the bombs before loading them onto the aircraft – phrases like: “This is revenge for our dead” and “This is for Paris”.
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Russian Federation says its intervention is aimed at helping the Syrian government defeat the Islamic State group, but local activists and US officials say the strikes have also targeted Western-backed rebels fighting to overthrow Assad.
The order came as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the raids over the past four days, either through Russian navy’s long-range attacks or air strikes by the Russian air force, have inflicted heavy damage and fatalities on the militants in Syria.
Shoigu reported directly to President Vladimir Putin Friday, announcing that the air strikes destroyed 15 oil refining and storage facilities in Syria, as well as 525 trucks carrying oil in this week’s bombings.
Russian Federation has described its military action in Syria as an effort to combat the Islamic State and support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally of Russian Federation and Iran.
An investigation by British newspaper The Financial Times in October estimated that the militants reap some $1.5 million a day from oil, based on the price of $45 a barrel.
“I don’t doubt that the Russians believe every bit as much as we do in the need to destroy ISIL”. Iraq announced intelligence and security cooperation last month with Russia, Iran and Syria to counter the threat from Islamic State.
Russian Federation on Friday unleashed cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea at targets across Syria, the defence minister said, as Moscow kept up its intensified bombardments in the war-torn country.
Meanwhile, Moscow has said ISIS was so overwhelmed with casualties in the attacks it is having to crudely hide dead bodies at night.
Several coordinated gun and suicide bombing attacks on the French capital by Islamists killed 130 people one week ago.
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He also disclosed that Syrian forces are gaining ground against the opposition in the ongoing civil war because the Russian airstrikes have tipped the balance in Syria’s favour in some parts of the country.
