The move further sends a message to the United States and the West, analysts add, that Russian Federation intends to continue expanding its influence beyond Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union.
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The commission, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011, said that if humanitarian corridors are established to deliver desperately needed aid they must comply with worldwide law.
“One, it shows the world that they are, in fact, a re-emerging global power”.
The announcement from Russian Federation marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since World War II, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.
“Long-range Tu-22M3 bombers and front-line Su-34 bombers that had taken off with a full load of bombs from an airbase in Hamadan conducted a coordinated attack on targets of the terrorist groups Islamic State and al-Nusra Front”, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
“We are continuing to have those conversations [with the Russians], we continue to pursue that goal, to create a coordination cell with Russian Federation … because we believe that is the best mechanism to get this back on track”, the State Department’s Toner said.
He did not comment when asked if Russian Federation had sought overflight permission from the government of Iraq, whose airspace provides quickest access to Syria from Iran.
In the event that Kurdish forces to the north of the city created a new front against the Assad regime, “the Syrian army would struggle to hold out on multiple fronts, potentially creating a new dynamic to the conflict that could mark the beginning of the end for the regime”, he said. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.
FILE – People gather around the rubble after an airstrike – believed to be Russian – in Al-Bab on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Oct. 5, 2015, in a photo released by Rased News Network, which is affiliated with Islamic State militants.
Moscow has used warplanes stationed at its Hmeimim airbase outside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, as well as warships stationed in the Caspian Sea and a submarine in the Mediterranean Sea to launch cruise missile attacks on Syrian territory. But as I said, it is a bigger story than just that. “This can become a logical continuation of Turkish President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s step toward Russia”, Morozov told RIA Novosti.
Iran and Russian Federation have been militarily involved in the Syrian conflict for years.
Shiite-led Iran has sent thousands of troops and fighters, including members of its Revolutionary Guard Corps, to Syria to bolster Assad – who is from the minority Alawite sect – against largely Sunni rebels. Hezbollah is a Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Iran supplies with weapons and money to fight against Israel.
The number of military aircraft deployed at Hamadan Airbase has not been disclosed. Local groups said 27 civilians had died.
Russian Federation has a naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, and the Caspian Sea is part of a planned military exercise. Using Iran’s air base cuts that distance to less than 700 kilometers.
Russian Federation had talked about the possibility of flying planes out of Iran since late a year ago, but its decision to do so on Tuesday came as a surprise, USA officials said.
Both groups have been designated as ‘”terrorists” by the United Nations. “They informed us they were coming through”.
In recent months, senior Russian and Iranian officials have discussed boosting their military co-operation, reports the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.
Separately on Tuesday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Syrian government forces and their Russian allies of using incendiary weapons, which burn their victims and start fires, in rebel-held civilian areas of north and north-western Syria.
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.
‘Clear message’ to U.S.
For his turn, the chief editor of “National Defense” magazine Igor Korotchenko said that the agreement between Moscow and Tehran demonstrates Iran’s resolute attitude toward the fight against Islamic extremism in the region. But Tuesday actions prove that Moscow has other intentions apart from training its military forces.
While flying the warplanes from Hamedan allows Russian Federation to pack a heavier punch in striking the militants’ positions, the same job could have been accomplished by flying from the central Syrian air base at Hmeimeem or by increasing the number of bombers flying from Russian Federation.
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In the meantime, Iraq has announced that Russian military aircraft can cross its airspace “under certain conditions”. “But due to unknown reasons, it was rejected until this July”.
