“But for now that is not enough to cleanse Syria of rebels and terrorists and to protect Russians from possible terrorist attacks”.
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Footage has been released of a barrage of cruise missiles being unleashed by Russian Federation against Islamic State targets in Syria.
In Manila, where Obama was meeting with Asian allies on the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Thursday took note of the intense Russian airstrikes Tuesday on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria. Russian long-range bombers and navy ships have launched 101 cruise missiles in four days, including 18 fired Friday by Russian navy ships from the Caspian Sea.
USA and French planes have also struck at oil targets in Deir el-Zour and elsewhere.
The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says that in the Russian Defence Ministry video soldiers can be seen writing messages on the bombs before loading them onto the aircraft – phrases like: “This is revenge for our dead” and “This is for Paris”.
According to Shoigu, Russian warplanes flew 522 sorties and destroyed over 800 targets in the last four days.
“We face a lot of work and I hope that the next phases will be conducted at the same high level, as professionally, and will produce the result we expect”.
Later the president’s spokesman told the BBC there was no talk of putting troops on the ground in Syria.
It was the second time that warships have been used since the start of the bombing campaign on September 30.
The Russian ambassador to Ankara was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry to hear the protest.
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Russian Federation is bombing in Syria at the request of its longstanding ally President Bashar al-Assad, while a US-led coalition is conducting its own air campaign against IS. They joined Russian war planes based at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s province of Latakia.
