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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| In first, Russian bombers fly from Iran to hit Syria | |
| 2016-08-17 | |
| [IsraelTimes] First missions from Iranian airfields target weapons and fuel depots, command posts, Moscow says Russian warplanes on Tuesday flew out from an Iranian air base to conduct strikes against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria, the defense ministry in Moscow said. The raids are the first Russia has reported carrying out from a base in Iran since the Kremlin launched its Syrian bombing campaign in support of long-time ally Bashir al-Assad last September. "On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Theocratic Republicof Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... and Jabhat al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib," the ministry said in a statement. The strikes resulted in the destruction of "five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition and fuel" and jihadist training camps near Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, the village of Saraqeb in the Idlib region and Al-Bab, an IS-held town in Aleppo province, the statement said. The bombing also targeted three command centers near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing "a large number of fighters," Moscow said. Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu claimed separately in comments aired Monday that Russia and the United States are also close to joining forces around Syria’s ravaged second city of Aleppo, where Russian planes and regime forces are battling rebels for control. Fighting for the city has intensified after regime troops seized control of the last supply route into rebel-held areas in mid-July.
The coalition has since last year operated a "memorandum of understanding" with Russia, whereby the two military forces notify each other of flights during their separate bombing campaigns to avoid accidents in the skies over Syria. "The Russians did notify the coalition as per the memorandum of understanding for safety of flight," U.S. military spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said. "They informed us they were coming through and we ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out again. They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria during the time." | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |