Russian jets based in Iran on Tuesday struck targets inside Syria, the Russian defence ministry said, after Moscow deployed aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.
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The ministry’s statement claimed “more than 150 militants, including foreign mercenaries, were killed”.
Toner said the United States is assessing whether Russia’s move violated UN Security Council resolution 2231, which prohibits the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said there was no motive to suggest Russian Federation had violated resolution 2,231 of the United Nations Security Council.
“There are no reasons to suspect Russian Federation of breaking the United Nations resolution”, he said. “In the case we are discussing now, there was neither the sale, nor supply, nor transfer of warplanes to Iran”.
Defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov suggested that Washington needed to brush up on the specifics of the resolution.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Russian bombers were believed to have returned to Russia.
The US State Department said on Wednesday its attorneys were assessing whether Russian Federation has violated the resolution but had not yet reached a determination.
Officials in Iran have acknowledged that Russian warplanes are using an Iranian air base but only for refueling purposes and insist that no Russian troops are stationed on Iranian soil.
Garver said the Russians had provided “not a lot” of warning but that it “was enough time to make sure that we could ensure safety of flight”.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said another wave of warplanes had departed from Iran, striking targets in eastern Syria.
“So that element of it is not new”, he said. “The fact of the matter is it’s only exacerbating what is already a very unsafe situation”.
Iran had already opened its airspace to Russian fighters as well as missiles fired from its Caspian Sea flotilla in October 2015, when four Russian warships launched a total of 26 Kalibr cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea, training on target in Syria. After two days of talks, each side spoke vaguely of steps they would take to try to stop the Arab country’s relentless bloodshed.
But rebels have made recent gains on the ground, and the Kremlin appears to fear that Mr. Assad is losing the initiative, said Seth Jones, an expert in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism at the Rand Corp.in Washington said.
Both countries back Assad.
“The Syrian government and Russian Federation should immediately stop attacking civilian areas with incendiary weapons”, said Steve Goose, HRW’s arms director.
A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russia’s decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is “paramount right now”. “This airfield in Iran is only 900km away”, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said.
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During a parliament session held Aug 17, Iranian MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said the deployment of Russian military forces in the Nojeh airbase is against the Article 176 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution. For more on the humanitarian and medical crisis in Syria, we speak with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, founder of the American Relief Coalition for Syria and senior adviser and former president of the Syrian American Medical Society.
