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Russian Federation denies anonymous missile crash claim

It was unclear whether the missiles caused any damage, they said.

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But the more mainstream Iranian Fars News Service said US officials’ reports on the missile crashes were psychological operations by the USA against Moscow”.

If confirmed, the crashes would be a blow to the military strength Russian Federation aimed to display in launching what it said were 26 missiles at Islamic State targets in Syria a few 1,500 km (900 miles) from the Caspian Sea on Wednesday.

The Russian defence ministry said its bombers, operating from a base in northeast Syria, had carried out 67 sorties on 60 targets in 24 hours.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against IS for months, but it also supports Syrian insurgents who’ve been fighting to oust Mr Assad.

Moscow demanded Thursday that the US back up its claims – that Russian missiles were mistakenly dropped in Iran – with facts and hard evidence.

Such developments are possible and the European Union will follow Russia’s actions in Syria, but it is now too early to speak about such a scenario, the source said.

The news came as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation renewed assurances to defend its allies in view of Russia’s “escalation” in Syria.

In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official web site, Wednesday, October 7, 2015, a Russian navy ship launches a cruise missile in the Caspian Sea.

The House and Senate Intelligence committees are reportedly concerned that spy agencies were slow to grasp the full scope of Russia’s plans for Syria, which began on September 30 with airstrikes backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

But several military sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Russian Federation had hit areas controlled by groups other than IS.

Russian Federation maintains its military actions are focused on stopping ISIS, though critics say the country is hitting mostly non-ISIS targets so far.

“Today, the Syrian Arab armed forces began a wide-ranging attack with the aim of eliminating the terrorist groups and liberating the areas and towns that suffered from their scourge and crimes, ” Ayoub said in rare televised remarks.

Guard commanders repeatedly have said Iran only has high-level advisers in Syria, denying it has fighters there.

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The US does not support the government of Assad and strongly believes that an end to the violence in the region needs to include “a political transition”.

Russian Federation denies anonymous missile crash claim