News of the strikes comes a day after Russia’s defence minister suggested it was close to an agreement with the U.S. on collaborating in attacks on IS militants around the divided city of Aleppo, where fighting between Syrian government and rebel forces has escalated in recent weeks.
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‘Step by step, we are coming closer to a plan – I’m only talking about Aleppo right now – that will enable us to start fighting together to establish peace in this very troubled land so that people can return to their homes.’ Earlier on Monday, Steinmeier called on Russian Federation to lay down its weapons to allow humanitarian aid to reach the embattled city in northern Syria.
Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew a bombing run from an Iranian airstrip against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria, the defence ministry said – the first time Moscow has reported using an Iranian air base.
It is thought to be the first time that Russian Federation has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September previous year. However, other groups such as the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front, which now calls itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, are also active in the city.
Aleppo, Syria’s former economic hub and a focal point of its five-year civil war, has been divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
His deputy Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should play a more active role in helping to resolve the Syria crisis.
The Syrian government describes all armed groups fighting to topple President Assad as terrorist.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Tuesday that the munitions, which can cause excruciating and often fatal burns, have been used at least 18 times over the past six weeks.
The Islamic State jihadist group yesterday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed more than 30 Syrian rebel fighters in a blast near the Turkish border. “People live in a state of fear”, ICRC president Peter Maurer said in a statement from Geneva.
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Russian Federation and Iran are longtime allies of the Syrian government, which has been waging war against a range of militant groups in the country for more than five years. The toll includes 126 people killed by rebel shelling of government-held parts of Aleppo city. Observatory head Rami Abdurrahman said Russian and government airstrikes on the province have intensified since rebels launched a campaign from Idlib to break a government siege of Aleppo’s opposition districts on July 31.
