A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggests the air base saw a Russian Su-34 “Fullback” strike fighter land there in late November.
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“As a result of the strikes five large arms depots were destroyed. a militant training camp. three command and control points. and a significant number of militants”, the ministry said in a statement. They returned to the base after completing their missions, it said.
It was the first time Russian Federation has used the territory of another nation, apart from Syria itself, to launch such strikes since the Kremlin launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in September a year ago.
Russian Federation and Iran are backing Assad’s army against opposition groups in Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions.
Fath al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, recently changed its name and said it was severing ties with the global terrorist network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and US -led airstrikes.
Conducting its bombing raids from Iran will dramatically cut the time it takes Moscow’s long-range bombers to reach Syria.
Fighter escorts for the mission flew out of Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in western Syria.
An worldwide rights group says the joint Syrian government and Russian military operation has been using incendiary weapons in civilian areas in northern Syria in violation of global law.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since July 31 until August 14 there have been 327 civilian deaths due to airstrikes in Aleppo and surrounding areas, including 76 children and 41 women, with dozens of wounded.
Before, Moscow only used facilities in Russian Federation and in the government-controlled areas in Syria for its missions in the Arab country.
The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 280 kilometres (175 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.
On Monday, Syrian troops repelled a rebel advance near Aleppo, forcing opposition forces to retreat from positions they seized a day earlier as heavy fighting continued in the country’s largest city.
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The deployment will reportedly reduce the strain on Russia’s units in Syria and slash flight time by 60 percent.
