Russia’s Defense Ministry said several Su-34 strike fighters left the Hamadan air field in northwestern Iran to strike targets in Syria’s Deir al-Zor Province on August 17, and that all aircraft had returned safely.
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It is believed as well as killing the fighters, two command posts and two large terrorist training camps were eliminated in the strike.
Toner told reporters Wednesday that the actual language of the resolution is very nuanced.
For the past 3 days, Russian bombers have been taking off from bases in Western Iran in order to carry out missions in Syria.
Boroujerdi, who is the chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, said that the move was part of Iran’s cooperation with Russia, Syria and Iraq. Russians and Iranians are not buddies.
On Tuesday, Toner said Russia’s use of the Iranian base “could very well be a violation” of a UN Security Council resolution that requires its prior approval for the supply, sale or transfer of warplanes to Iran.
Earlier on Tuesday, Russia’s state-backed Rossiya 24 channel said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.
Also on Tuesday, State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said the Russian airstrikes out of Iran had killed civilians and suggested that they might constitute a violation of the United Nations resolution on military cooperation with Iran. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, said in a statement Wednesday, “but it’s hard to resist a recommendation for some State Department representatives to check their logic and knowledge of fundamental documents of worldwide law”.
For Russia’s part, its decision to use the Shahid Nojeh military airbase in western Iran underscores its calculation that bolstering its almost year-long overt military intervention – which began dramatically with Russia airstrikes launched from a base in the Syrian coastal town of Latakia – can help tip the battlefield in Assad’s favor.
He said Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had given permission for Russian Federation to use the air base.
Both countries back Assad.
“So we’re looking at it and we’re trying to make a sober assessment of whether this constitutes, in our view, a violation”, Toner added. Iran allowed Russian warplanes to take off from its territory to strike opposition targets in Syria.
There was heavy fighting around the Ramussa area and a nearby military academy on Wednesday, the Britain-based monitor said.
On Sept. 30, when worldwide criticism of the Russian military buildup in Syria was mounting, Moscow began extensive air operations in the country, declaring that it was fighting terrorism.Turkey and Western powers, for their part, accused Russia of striking at moderate Syrian opposition groups rather than terrorist targets.
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“In Aleppo we risk seeing a humanitarian catastrophe unprecedented in the over five years of bloodshed and suffering in the Syrian conflict”, Ban told the UN Security Council in his latest monthly report on aid access, seen by Reuters.
