The ships’ positioning means any likely flight path for missiles into Syria would be blasted straight over both Iran and Iraq.
Advertisement
“Foreign military intervention in Syria – whether by Russian Federation or the West – will neither help resolve the conflict there nor eradicate terrorist organizations”, Ahmed bin Heli, deputy secretary-general of the Arab League, told reporters.
Despite the Russian action, the Islamic State group advanced Friday to the outskirts of Aleppo in an offensive that also took the jihadists to within a few kilometres (miles) of regime troops defending the city, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
US officials say that over the past several days Russian Federation has directed parts of its air campaign against American-funded groups and other moderate opposition, in a concerted effort to weaken them.
You can bet that Obama and other Western leaders will continue to watch the fighting by Russia’s military in Syria and become even more wary as the bombs explode and more people run.
Russian officials said 26 cruise missiles were launched at 11 Islamic State targets, which officials said were destroyed without causing any civilian casualties.
The Observatory says Islamic State has no real real presence in these areas.
The Russian air strikes had “weakened” IS, Syrian Army Chief of Staff Gen Ali Abdullah Ayoub said on Thursday, enabling the army to start a “big attack” to retake towns and villages. They would also be backed by Mr Assad’s Lebanese Hezbollah allies and by Shia militia fighters from Iraq, while the Russians would provide air support.
Iran is the main regional ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and has provided military and economic support during Syria’s four-year-old civil war.
Targets included “command and communication centers, ammunition and fuel depots, as well as training bases of terrorists in the provinces Raqqa, Lattakia, Hamah, Idlib and Aleppo”, the defense ministry said via Facebook.
“The Russians are following the same script as the Syrian regime, which is basically to avoid ISIS as much as they can because ISIS is useful”, Hassan said.
Advertisement
There are also concerns about the accuracy of the weapons Russian Federation is using to target Syrian rebels.
