Four Russian cruise missiles fired at Syria from the Caspian Sea landed in Iran, unnamed USA officials have said.
Advertisement
The USA military diverted two aircraft over Syria to ensure they could maintain a safe flying distance from a Russian fighter aircraft in the same area, according to Captain Jeff Davis, Pentagon spokesman, CNN News reports.
The reluctance of the United States to share intelligence on Syria will not hamper Russia’s operations in the war-torn country as Moscow has sufficient information from other sources, a Russian official said Thursday.
The high precision strikes might have been “unpleasant and surprising for our colleagues in the Pentagon”, but the fact is that “the missiles launched from the ships hit their targets,” he said.
Russian Defense Ministry claimed Wednesday that Moscow planned the flight route to pass only over desolate areas so that they don’t pose any danger to civilians.
“There is no difference between Nusra Front, Daesh and the Free Syrian Army – if it still exists”, Mekdad said, according to the AP news agency.
But an unnamed U.S. government source told Reuters that four missiles had crashed before reaching their targets.
On Wednesday, Moscow upped the ante dramatically by launching a series of cruise missile attacks and providing direct air support for a Syrian army ground attack for the first time.
“NATO is ready and able to defend all allies, including Turkey against any threats”, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary-General Jens toltenberg told reporters as he arrived for a meeting in Brussels of the alliance’s defense ministers which is likely to be dominated by the war in Syria.
Russia is bombing the enemies of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s brutal dictator.In reality, Russian air strikes on rebel forces may actually be helping ISIS by removing a few of their competition.
“We have not and will not agree to cooperate with Russian Federation so long as they continue to pursue this misguided strategy,” he said earlier in the week.
Kerry reiterated USA concerns about the high number of non-ISIS targets that Russian Federation has struck, he said.
“After the Russian airstrikes, which reduced the fighting ability of Daesh and other terrorist groups, the Syrian Armed Forces kept the military initiative”, Ayoub noted, referring the “Islamic State” militant group by its Arabic acronym.
But Russian officials deny ramping up military activity.
“This was the first operational test of these in operational conditions”, one official said of the Russian Kalibr missiles that were used. The media outlet cites two USA officials for the information.
American officials, including Carter, have repeatedly condemned Russia’s actions as unhelpful, particularly as they attack both extremist and U.S.-backed rebel forces there.
Advertisement
Russian fighter jets have been targeting rebel groups in Syria with air strikes since last week, and yesterday began a Russian-backed air-ground offensive against opposition forces fighting the regime between Hama and Idlib.
