Russian air strikes have destroyed the main weapons depots of a U.S.-trained rebel group in Syria, their commander said on Wednesday, in an expansion of Russian attacks on insurgents backed by foreign enemies of President Bashar al-Assad.
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Russian Federation last week began carrying out air strikes in Syria in what it said was a pre-emptive operation against terrorism in the Middle East.
Mr Shoigu insisted the operation destroyed all the targets and did not launch any strikes upon civilian areas.
We’re referring here exclusively to the operation of the Russian air force to carry out strikes against ISIL positions in Syria. On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said Russian jets in the last 24 hours had carried out 34 airstrikes in and around the central city of Palmyra, which is held by ISIS, and outside the group’s de facto capital of Raqqa.
The ministry accused Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists of sheltering in or near mosques, and released video footage taken from a drone which, it claims, shows weaponry and equipment being driven from wooded locations into an inhabited area and parked adjacent to a large mosque.
A second US official said: “This is not how military relations are conducted, by banging on the door of our embassy and reading a note”.
Russia’s commitment-32 planes, 16 helicopters, and two surface to air missile systems-will hardly reverse Assad’s sagging fortunes.
Russia’s intervention in the Syrian civil war has made the situation “much more dangerous”, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has said.
“They gave us a heads-up they were going to start striking in Syria”, stated a defense official.
Though the Islamic State has no presence in the areas hit Wednesday, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, is active in central and northern parts of the country – as are the Western-backed rebels.
Mr Fallon also said the government was “slowly building a consensus” among MPs for United Kingdom airstrikes over Syria.
He said Russia’s incursion into the air space of Turkey – a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member – would be condemned in “very strong terms” at the summit.
Earlier Tuesday, Carter had called on Russian leaders to contact the Pentagon immediately to discuss Moscow’s military activities in Syria, reflecting urgent concerns about Russian aircraft violating Turkish airspace. Turkey scrambled F-16s in response and also summoned the Russian ambassador to lodge protests.
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Their letter, which used sectarian terms for both Iran and Assad’s Alawite sect, a Shi’ite offshoot, also portrayed Russian involvement as part of an Orthodox Christian crusade, and attacked the West for denying the rebels anti-aircraft weapons.
