The four warships fired 26 cruise missiles at militants from the inland sea – a distance of 900 miles (1,500km).
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Russia’s Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jets, Su-24M and Su-34 bombers, with the support of Su-30 Flanker jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Assad.
Reuters reported last week that allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including Iranians, were preparing a ground attack in Syria, aimed at recapturing territory lost by the government to rebels in rapid advances this year.
“The president of France, Mr Hollande, voiced an interesting idea, according to which it would be possible, in his opinion, to try to unite the efforts of the government forces of President Assad and the so-called Free Syrian Army”, Putin said.
Yerevan-based political analyst Stepan Grigoryan, the head of the Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation, said that Armenia should demonstrate neutrality in interpreting the actions undertaken by Russian Federation in Syria.
The fighting comes as the Russian airstrikes appear to have emboldened Syrian troops to launch a ground offensive after suffering a string of setbacks in northwestern Syria over the past few months.
The Turkish foreign ministry announced on Monday that a Russian plane had violated Turkey’s airspace in the south of the country.
In other remarks aired by Turkish television later Wednesday, Davutoglu said Russian Federation was making a “big mistake”, while warning against new violations of Turkey’s airspace.
Fallon also accused Russian Federation of not respecting the rules, after the country violated the airspace of Nato-member Turkey, on 5 October.
Turkey’s prime minister demanded Wednesday that Russia respect Turkey’s borders, saying the nation won’t “make any concessions” on matters of border security, after two Russian warplanes strayed into Turkish airspace over the weekend.
Major General Qassem Soleimani’s visit has led to Russian warplanes bombing rebels from above and Iranian special forces taking part in ground operations, reshaping the conflict.
Russian Federation says it shares the West’s aim of preventing the spread of Islamic State who have seized large expanses of Syria.
Russia’s military build-up in Syria includes a “considerable and growing” naval presence, long-range rockets and a battalion of ground troops backed by Moscow’s most modern tanks, the US ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation said on Wednesday.
He said the U.S.is not prepared to cooperate with a strategy of Russia’s that is “tragically flawed”, the AP reported.
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However US State Department spokesman John Kirby said: “Greater than 90 per cent of the strikes that we’ve seen them take to date have not been against Isil [Isis] or al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists”.
