Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Tuesday that it had deployed Tu-22M3 bombers and Su-34 strike fighters in Iran and these have already carried out airstrikes against terrorists in Syria.
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Tuesday’s mission is thought to be the first time Russian aircraft have flown missions from Iran since Moscow launched air strikes in Syria in September past year, and potentially marks a major expansion of Russia’s military presence in the Middle East.
The United States supports an array of armed opposition groups fighting the forces of President Bashar Assad of Syria.
Russian Federation and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted.
The bombers, escorted by Russian Su-30SM and Su-35S fighters based in Syria, targeted ammunition depots and command- and-control centers in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzour and Idlib, the statement said.
Elsewhere an airstrike killed 10 civilians at a bakery in an Islamic State-controlled area of the city of Deir Ezzour, in eastern Syria, according to local activist group DeirEzzor24.
The development followed intense and deadly battles around Aleppo and stepped up airstrikes by the Syrian and Russian air forces in Aleppo and nearby Idlib province, reports AP.
A suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt inside a bus carrying rebels from Turkey into Syria through the Atmeh border crossing some 40 kilometres west of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
President Vladimir Putin visited in November and the two countries regularly discuss military planning for Syria, where Iran has provided ground forces that work with local allies while Russian Federation provides air power.
“We have nothing to announce at this time”, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.
“Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one and we share our potential and facilities in this field”, Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. Jabhat al-Nusra cut its ties with al-Qa’ida and renamed itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in late July, apparently to deflect pressure from Washington and Moscow.
The rebrand was seen as a ploy to stop its fighters being targeted by global air strikes and gain local support, but Russian Federation continues to refer to them as “terrorists”.
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Steve Goose, arms director at HRW, says the “Syrian government and Russian Federation should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons”.
