Russian warplanes strike Daesh positions in Syria
For first time, Russian warplanes carry out airstrikes in war-ravaged Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry confirms
Russian warplanes on Wednesday struck targets inside Syria for the first time, according to statements by a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Spokesman Igor Konashenkov confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Russian warplanes had struck positions in Syria associated with the Daesh militant group.
The strikes were carried out, he said, on the direct orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Konashenkov, Wednesday’s airstrikes targeted Daesh munitions depots, vehicles and communications centers.
Local activists in both the Hama and Homs provinces told Anadolu Agency that airstrikes conducted by Russian warplanes had caused considerably more damage than those carried out by Syrian aircraft.
Earlier Wednesday, the upper house of Russia’s parliament voted unanimously to give President Putin the authority to deploy the country’s armed forces in war-torn Syria.
According to reports from the Syrian Arab News Agency, the Russian support against Daesh had come “at the request of the Syrian state”.
Syria’s devastating civil war, now in its fifth year, has claimed more than 250,000 lives, according to UN figures, and made the country the world's single-largest source of refugees and displaced people.
