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Iraq closes airspace as missiles fly near airport

Iraq closed its northern airspace to all flights on Monday for at least two days due to military traffic from Russia’s air campaign in neighbouring Syria.

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“The Civil Aviation Authority chose to suspend all departing and arriving flights from and to Arbil and Sulaimaniyah airports” for 48 hours from 8:00 am (0500 GMT) today, it said in a statement, referring to airports in the autonomous Kurdish region.

It has previously targeted oil installations under the control of Islamic State and said it aimed to cut the group’s main revenue stream.

President Vladimir Putin said the attack had deprived IS of $1.5 million in daily income from oil sales.

In the interview with China’s Phoenix television, Assad said the situation in Syria had “improved in a very good way” since Russian Federation began air strikes on September 30, AFP reported.

This Saturday, hundreds of Islamic State militants reportedly fled the Syrian city of Raqqa as Russian fighters and long-range bombers have intensified their airstrikes on the strongholds and command centers of the ISIL militants in recent days.

Russian Federation said it fired cruise missiles for a fourth day against IS targets.

Moscow first 18 missiles from ships in its Caspian Sea fleet at seven targets in the Raqa, Idlib and Aleppo provinces, according to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russia’s air force has delivered over 4,000 missile and bomb strikes against terrorist facilities since the start of its operation in Syria, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on November 17. According to reports, ISIS has claimed responsibility of the Paris terror attacks and has continued issuing terror threats to European countries and America.

Russian Federation has stepped up its attacks on the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in Syria, bombarding targets with cruise missiles from warships in the Mediterranean and Caspian seas.

Putin agreed to coordinate military actions with France in Syria.

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Also, Russian army’s General Staff Andrey Kartapolov said on Wednesday that The Russian Armed Forces will joint military operations with the French Navy to combat terrorists in Syria.

Russian president Vladimir Putin