The bombardment was the first to involve Russia’s navy since Moscow’s decision to militarily support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a week ago. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the secret meeting.
Advertisement
The cruise missiles flew over the Caucasus Mountains, Iran and Iraq before veering toward Islamic State held areas in the western portion of Syria, shocking military analysts as the weapons systems used were not previously thought to have such long range capability.
Appearing on television with President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 26 missile strikes were conducted from four warships in the Caspian. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told TASS. That programme is separate to one set up by the Pentagon to train and equip Syrian insurgents to fight Islamic State.
Three senior officials in the region say Soleimani’s July trip was preceded by high-level Russian-Iranian contacts that produced political agreement on the need to pump in new support for Assad as his losses accelerated. “We are seeking to see Russian Federation have a bigger role in Iraq…”
Rebels have controlled areas on the highway since 2012. Scenes posted by the Revolutionary Command Council, a coalition of rebel groups, showed explosions and plumes of smoke in what the group said was a village in northern Hama.
NATO, US officials, and others have noted that Russian Federation has targeted U.S.-backed rebels who are fighting Assad, rather than focusing on ISIS strongholds as the country initially declared it would do.
The Observatory said 37 Russian air raids hit on Wednesday alone.
It added that militants opened fire at the helicopters without striking them. At least 40 civilians were killed on the first day of the Russian airstrikes last week, according to activists and a human rights group.
“Soleimani is nearly resident in Damascus, or let’s say he goes there a lot and you can find him between meetings with President Assad and visits to the theatre of operations like any other soldier”, said one of the senior regional officials.
Turkey’s prime minister demanded Wednesday that Russia respect Turkey’s borders, saying the nation won’t “make any concessions” on matters of border security, after two Russian warplanes strayed into Turkish airspace over the weekend.
He said, however, that the United States was prepared to carry out basic, technical discussions with Moscow on pilot safety.
We believe Russian Federation has the wrong strategy.
“They continue to hit targets that are not ISIL”, Carter said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. “This is a fundamental mistake”, Carter said.
Fallon said Russian Federation is making a very serious situation in Syria which is much more unsafe.
Advertisement
Stoltenberg expressed concern about the troubling escalation of Russian military activities in Syria and the violation of Turkish air space by Russian fighter aircraft. “This is particularly relevant in view of the recent violations of NATO’s airspace by Russian aircraft”. Asked if North Atlantic Treaty Organisation would consider extending their mission in light of the Russian missile attacks, Stoltenberg said: “NATO is able and ready to defend all of the allies, including Turkey”.
