The Kremlin says the Tu-22M3 bombers attacked targets of the so-called Islamic State (IS) and other factions in Syria that oppose President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of both Moscow and Tehran. The U.S., which wants Mr. Assad out, has expressed concerns about Moscow and Tehran’s stepped-up military coordination.
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Russia’s Defence Ministry said Wednesday that Su-34 warplanes took off from the Iranian airbase and conducted an airstrike against Islamic State targets in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour.
Russian Federation said its planes targeted Islamic State militants and the al-Qaeda-linked group formerly known as the Nusra Front in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.
Lavrov’s response comes after US State Department spokesperson Mark Toner, on Tuesday said that Russian Federation could be violating United Nations security resolution 2231, which was passed as a part of the Iran nuclear deal in July 2015.
US Secretary of States John Kerry, right, gestures beside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a news conference in Munich, southern Germany, on February 12, 2016.
“Iran has cooperation with Russian Federation because of a terrorist crisis which has been created by the US and some regional countries”.
But while Russian airstrikes have hit IS jihadists, USA officials say that many more since previous year have struck anti-Assad forces backed openly or clandestinely by the U.S. and its allies. “They informed us they were coming through”. Gen Igor Konashenkov said in an acidly worded statement on the defence ministry’s Facebook page. “In the case we are discussing now, there was neither the sale, nor supply, nor transfer of warplanes to Iran”.
However, the top Russian diplomat added it would have been easier to reach a settlement in Syria if the United States had kept its promise to separate moderate opposition groups from the terrorists. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, said in a statement Wednesday, “but it’s hard to resist a recommendation for some State Department representatives to check their logic and knowledge of fundamental documents of worldwide law”.
“In Aleppo we risk seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unprecedented in the over five years of bloodshed and suffering in the Syrian conflict”, Ban told the UN Security Council in his latest monthly report on aid access.
Warplanes took off from a base in Iran to target militants in Syria.
“So that element of it is not new”, he said.
“It’s not helpful because … it continues to complicate what is already a very unsafe situation”, Toner said.
Moscow backs Syria’s government.
“There could be more, and the possibility of spreading the Russian air campaign to Iraq”, says Felgenhauer.
After pulling back from a contemplated missile attack against Mr. Assad in 2012, Mr. Obama accepted the help of Russian Federation to negotiate the removal of Mr. Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile. “Syrian treaty allowing the bombardment of Syrian territory by drones and planes from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, or any other foreign air bases”, he said.
Moscow and Tehran signed a military agreement allowing Russian aircraft to station at Hamadan Airport in western Iran.
Flying missions out of Iran wouldn’t appear to provide an advantage, though Russian officials said it enables heavier loads and lower costs.
Russian Federation has used the Iranian base to bomb Syrian militants for the first time.
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“There is absolutely nothing to discuss”, Lavrov said, adding that there is no need to look for fault.
