The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Tu-22M3 “Backfire” bombers and Su-34 “Fullback” fighter-bombers took off from Hamedan air base in Iran to hit what the ministry said were the Islamic State terror group and al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in Aleppo as well as in Deir ez-Zor and Idlib.
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The raids “eliminated” five major arms depots, used to supply ISIS militants near the city of Aleppo, as well as three militant command points and training camps in the cities of Serakab, Al-Bab, Aleppo and Deir Ezzor.
In May, Russia made the long-delayed delivery of the advanced S-300 air-defense missile system, which had been ordered by Iran in 2007 amid controversy over Iran’s nuclear program.
Russian Federation and Iran are backing Assad’s army against opposition groups in Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions.
Russian Federation and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted.
As negotiations on the deal neared an end, Russian Federation opened the door to better ties with Iran by lifting a five-year-old ban on the delivery of its powerful S-300 surface-to-air missile defense system. Saudi Arabia considers Iran both a religious and strategic enemy, and has expressed concern that the U.S.is not committed to its prolonged security interests.
The deployment marks a major switch in the bombing campaign the Kremlin launched in September to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, as until now Moscow had only flown raids out of its bases in Syria and Russian Federation.
It was also a “PR move”, said Challands, meant to reinforce the notion that “there is still enough of a strategic connection between Russian Federation and Iran for them to work closely together in the field of war in Syria”.
Just last week in Azerbaijan, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani to discuss regional security and cooperation.
But former military leaders like David Petraeus have floated working with Nusra Front, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in June that the US government had asked it not to bomb the group.
“There were extensive consultations”, he said.
A US official says the Russian bombers that used an Iranian air base to attack militants in Syria have returned to Russia and that no Russian forces are stationed in Iran. “Russia is increasingly forced to deal with IS attacks, while it still has to support Assad’s forces in the battle for Aleppo”. Russian long-range bombers previously have flown sorties from Russian territory, farther from the region.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said at a press conference Tuesday evening that his government received no official request from Moscow for aircraft to transit Iraqi airspace, but he said he supported the airstrikes. They said the setup at the Iranian air base was established very quickly, perhaps overnight. “They couldn’t engage it” because of the presence of the civilians, he said.
The Russians “are taking advantage of the political vacuum that was left by America and Western countries that withdrew”, said Paris-based senior Syrian opposition figure George Sabra. “It’s not a lot of time, but it’s enough, and it was enough time to make sure that we could ensure safety of flights”, he added. This has been done in the past and both countries granted the permission, according to Reuters.
The bombing comes amid intense combat around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. He also said that during upcoming visits to Gulf states he will meet with representatives from the Syrian opposition.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war, is divided into rebel and government-held zones.
A Russian Su-34 conducting an airstrike in Syria.
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Air raids on two rebel-held districts of Syria’s battleground second city Aleppo on Tuesday, August 16 killed 19 civilians, including three children, a monitoring group said.
