Russia strikes terrorists in Syria, in touch with Pentagon
October 1, 2015, 2:45 pm

Strikes were made during the night on 4 facilities of Islamic State [Image: Russian Defense Ministry]

“Precisely for this purpose, we are developing contacts between our special services – Russian special services and US special services, between defense ministries,” Putin said at the session of Presidential Council on Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

“The work is underway. I hope that it will result in the creation of a constantly operating mechanism,” Putin said.

“Another mechanism – international – has already been created by us in Baghdad, in which several countries participate,” he added.

More than 50 warplanes and helicopters are part of an air group of Russia’s Aerospace Forces conducting airstrikes on the positions of the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

Russia has deployed Su-24M and Su-25 fighter jets in the aviation unit formed in Syria.

“More than 20 sorties were made targeting eight facilities of ISIL. Modernized Su-24M and Su-25 jets with modern aiming systems were among the aircraft that made sorties,” Konashenkov said.

On Wednesday night, the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked four Islamic State facilities in Syria.

“A stronghold of terrorist groups and ammunition depot near the city of Idlib were destroyed, as well as a three-level command post of militants near the settlement of Hama,” Konashenkov said.

“An explosives and ammunition production plant was completely destroyed after being directly hit by a bomb to the north of the city of Homs,” he noted.

A Marines’ battalion task group with reinforcements is guarding the airbase in Syria where a group of the Russian Aerospace Forces is deployed, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.

He said that the air group of Russia’s Aerospace Forces was deployed at the Hmeimim airbase in the area of Latakia.

The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed an Islamic State headquarters near the Syrian town of Al-Latamna with a ground bomb, a Defense Ministry official spokesman added.

“The militants’ headquarters in this area was destroyed,” the spokesman said adding that neighboring buildings had not been damaged.

Konashenkov said the Russian jets also destroyed an ammunition depot near the city of Idlib in Syria’s northwest.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also announced that Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq have set up an information center in Bagdad to coordinate the fight against the IS.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier the center was open for all the countries interested in the fight against terrorism.

The information center will be tasked with collecting, processing, analyzing and summarizing the information on the situation in the Middle East as part of the effort to fight against the IS. The center will be led by officers of the Armed Forces of these countries for three months on rotation basis. The Iraqi side will be the first to run the center.

Meanwhile, US Senator John McCain claimed on Thursday that Russian warplanes conducted air strikes on groups “funded and trained by our CIA”.

“Their initial strikes were against the individuals and the groups that have been funded and trained by our CIA,” McCain told CNN, adding that the move showed Moscow’s real priority: “to prop up” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

AFP has also quoted US-backed Syrian rebels saying Russian strikes have hit their base.

In an interview to Charlie Rose at CBS last week, Putin had pointed out that terrorist groups were waging war against the Syrian government.

“Where is that civilised opposition? 60% of Syria is controlled either by ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra or other terrorist organisations,” said Putin.

Putin reiterated his points during the UNGA address on Monday in New York.

“Gentlemen, the people you are dealing with are cruel but they are not dumb. They are as smart as you are. So, it’s a big question: who’s playing who here? The recent incident where the most “moderate” opposition group handed over their weapons to terrorists is a vivid example of that,” he told world leaders.

“And now radical groups are joined by members of the so-called “moderate” Syrian opposition backed by the West. They get weapons and training, and then they defect and join the so-called Islamic State,” he warned.

Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday also released video footage of pinpoint airstrikes at an operational staff of the Islamic State grouping on the territory of Syria.

TBP and Agencies