The Russian force began airstrikes Wednesday. She did not provide further details.
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Putin has said Assad should remain in power in order to fight terrorism. Russian navy transport vessels have been shuttling back and forth for weeks to ferry troops, weapons and supplies to an air base near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia.
She also noted that the involvement of the Russian military in the Syrian war calls for more immediate action. Kirby did not say whether the US agreed to that request.
Its repeated vetoes, mainly on intervention in Syria or calling for investigations into alleged atrocities committed by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, have led to criticism that the Kremlin is undermining the council.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly claimed about 250,000 lives up until now, according to reports.
Moscow should “take pre-emptive steps and do it on distant frontiers, instead of facing the issue here and later on”, said Ivanov.
United Nations: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his USA counterpart Barack Obama met on the crisis in Syria but failed to resolve their dispute over the future role of Bashar al-Assad.
Russia’s Federation Council chamber voted on the measure after receiving a request from Syria for military aid.
On the ground, Syrian activists said that air raids on the central provinces of Homs and Hama killed and wounded dozens of people on Wednesday.
Russian public opinion has backed Putin’s efforts to found an “anti-terrorist coalition” including Iran, Iraq, and Syria, but lacks the enthusiasm it had for direct military operations in Ukraine.
Putin told reporters, “We are thinking about it, and we don’t exclude anything”.
Analysts said Putin needed to get parliament’s backing to ensure that any military operation was legal under the terms of the Russian constitution.
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Earlier, Putin said in an interview on USA television that Moscow is intensifying its work with President Assad and also Russia’s other partners in the region, but said he has no plans to deploy combat troops, adding, “at least, for now”. The area is heavily populated by the Free Syrian Army fighters, who have been waging a drawn-out campaign to oust Assad.
