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Russia intensifies bombing of ISIL targets
November 17, 2015, 8:03 pm

The Russian military says it has already fired cruise missiles against ISIL targets from Tu-160 strategic bombers such as the one above [Xinhua]

The Russian military says it has already fired cruise missiles against ISIL targets from Tu-160 strategic bombers such as the one above [Xinhua]


Russia intensified its aerial bombardment of Islamic State targets in Syria a few hours after Moscow announced that it had determined that an explosive device had brought down a commercial airliner in Egypt last month.

On Tuesday, Russian Federal Security Chief Alexander Bortnikov said that investigators had discovered explosive traces in the wreckage of the plane which crashed in Egypt’s Sinai on October 31.

The Metrojet A321 airliner heading to St Petersburg from the popular Sharm el Sheikh resort appears to have broken apart in midair killing all 224 on board.

According to Russian military sources quoted by local media, Moscow will now be using long-range Tu-160, TU-95, Tu-22, SU-34 strategic bombers and SU-27 fighter planes in the aerial campaign to destroy Islamic State positions.

According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who met with Bortnikov and President Vladimir Putin during a security meeting in the Kremlin, the Tu-160 and Tu-95 have already launched cruise missiles against the self-styled ISIL capital of Raqqa in northeast Syria early Tuesday

“Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers fired 34 air-launched cruise missiles at terrorist targets in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. A total of 127 sorties against 206 terrorist targets were scheduled for Tuesday, of which 82 sorties have already been flown and 140 targets have been hit. The operation is underway,” Shoigu said in remarks carried by the TASS Russian news agency.

Reuters also reported on Tuesday, quoting US defense officials in contact with the Russian military, that sea-launched cruise missiles were also used in the attacks against ISIL forces in northeast Syria.

Earlier, Putin announced that Russian aerial and naval forces would closely work with the French forces in the Mediterranean to carry out joint missions against ISIL.

France, which suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks since World War II last Friday, has launched a number of retaliatory air strikes against ISIL positions in Syria.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies