Advertisement

Russia Fires Rockets At IS From Caspian Sea

Russia has fired rockets at Islamic State targets in Syria from its warships in the Caspian Sea, Vladimir Putin has said.

The four warships fired 26 cruise missiles at militants from the inland sea - a distance of 900 miles (1,500km).

Mr Putin told a televised meeting that the "high-precision" weapons hit all their targets.

Interfax reported the President as adding that he wants cooperation on Syria with the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said earlier that only two of 57 Russian air strikes in Syria so far had hit Islamic State but, according to the RIA Novosti news agency, the Russian Defence Ministry retaliated by saying it has grounds to believe that the US is not always hitting terrorist targets with its bombing in Syria either.

It follows a wave of airstrikes by Russian warplanes in Syria on Wednesday morning which were accompanied by a ground assault by "regime forces", according to a monitoring group.

At least six villages and towns in Hama and Idlib provinces were hit by the attacks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Revolutionary Command Council of Hama posted a video on YouTube which it claimed showed an attack on al Lataminah.

It has emerged that the military plan to involve Russia in Syria's war was formed in July after a visit to Moscow by an Iranian general.

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.

Maj Gen Soleimani is the commander of the Quds Force, the elite extra-territorial special forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, who reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Sources have told Reuters he has now been seen supervising ground operations against insurgents in Syria and planning the new Russian and Iranian-backed offensive.

Russian warplanes, which have been stationed at an airfield in the western Syrian city of Latakia, began mounting air strikes against rebels in Syria last week, wrong-footing Western officials.

In addition, sources told Reuters last week that hundreds of Iranian troops and 3,000 fighters from Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hizbollah have also arrived to fight alongside Syrian army troops.

Iraq has also been involved, with a command centre being set up in Baghdad, and on Wednesday the head of the Iraqi parliamentary defence committee said Russia could soon be asked to launch airstrikes against Islamic State there, too.

The increasing involvement of Russia's air forces and Iran's ground forces in Syria has raised concerns about the consequences if Britain was to join America, France and Australia in launching its own airstrikes on IS within Syrian territory.

Australia, which began flying strike missions over Syria in September, said its jets had struck only two targets in Syria since the Russian involvement began last week because of the increasingly "complex" situation.

Mr Putin claimed that Francois Hollande, whom he met last week, had suggested that Assad's forces could be united with the Free Syrian Army in an attempt to defeat Islamic State.

A leading Syrian rebel quickly responded by saying it was an "illogical" suggestion. A spokesman for Mr Hollande also dismissed the suggestion as being a French one.