The Russian Air Force has conducted more than 60 flights and
bombed over 50 Islamic State targets in three days, according to
Russia’s top armed forces official. He added the strikes have
significantly reduced the terrorists’ combat capabilities.
“The airstrikes were
being conducted night and day from the Khmeimim airbase and throughout
the whole of Syria. In three days we managed to undermine the
terrorists’ material-technical base and significantly reduce their
combat potential,” Lieutenant General Andrey Kartapolov, head of
the Main Operation Directorate of the General Staff of Russia’s armed
forces, told reporters on Saturday.He added that according to Russian intelligence the militants are fleeing the area that was in their control.
“There is panic and defection among them. About 600 mercenaries have left their positions and are trying to reach Europe,” he said.
Washington has notified the Russian Defense Ministry that there were only militants in the areas of Russia’s military operation against IS in Syria, he added. "The Americans informed us during contacts that there was no one except terrorists in this region," he said.
“Over the past 24 hours, Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M fighter jets have performed 20 sorties and hit nine Islamic State installations,” Igor Konashenkov, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, reported.
Konashenkov added that yesterday evening Russian aircraft went on six sorties, inflicting strikes on three terrorist installations.
“A bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb dropped from a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber near Raqqa has eliminated the command post of one of the terror groups, together with an underground storage facility for explosives and munitions,” the spokesman said.
Commenting on the video filmed by a Russian UAV monitoring the assault near Raqqa, Konashenkov noted, “a powerful explosion inside the bunker indicates it was also used for storing a large quantity of munitions.
“As you can see, a direct hit on the installation resulted in the detonation of explosives and multiple fires. It was completely demolished,” the spokesman said.
Konashenkov noted the crosshair visible on the drone video footage is not a target, but merely a focus point of the UAV’s camera “maintaining control over an airstrike.”
Another bomber on a sortie from Khmeimim has dropped a KAB-500 air bomb on an Islamic State camp near Maarrat al-Numan. It destroyed fortifications, ammunition, fuel and seven units of equipment, Konashenkov said at a media briefing on Saturday.
KAB-500 bombs are accurate to within five meters.
The Russian Air Force has also eliminated a workshop in Idlib province, where terrorists have been mounting large-caliber machine-guns and other heavy armaments on pickup trucks.
Assault aircraft from at Khmeimim airbase have also inflicted airstrikes against terrorist forces near Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib province, destroying vehicle storage depots used for organizing terror attacks.
Regarding the airstrike on a target near Jisr al-Shughur, Igor Konashenkov pointed out, “footage of a huge pillar of smoke indicates a direct hit resulted in the total elimination of the facility.”
Drones stationed at Khmeimim airbase are maintaining “round-the-clock monitoring of the situation in Islamic State’s operation areas,” Konashenkov said.
“All disclosed targets are promptly engaged, regardless of the weather or light conditions,” said the Defense Ministry’s spokesman.
No anti-aircraft activity has been registered within the Russian task force’s sector of interest in Syria.
“No operable air-defense systems have been spotted in the Russian Air Force zone of action in Syria. Nevertheless, all operational flights are being performed with activated defensive onboard [radioelectronic combat] gear,” the spokesman said.
http://www.rt.com/news/317505-air-force-terrorists-raqqa/
Russia to intensify Syria airstrikes against IS |
| English.news.cn 2015-10-04 01:36:37 |
"We will not only continue conducting our airstrikes, but will also increase their intensity," Andrey Kartapolov, deputy chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces told reporters.
The primary targets are IS command points, ammunition and explosives depots, communication hubs, workshops to produce weapons and militant training camps, he said.
Russia's aircraft have carried out more than 60 missions and destroyed over 50 IS facilities during the round-the-clock airstrikes, he said.
"Over the past 72 hours, we have managed to undermine the material and technical base of terrorists and significantly reduce their combat potential," Interfax news agency quoted Kartapolov as saying.
He added that reconnaissance units obtained information of terrorists leaving districts under their control.
Meanwhile, the official stressed that all relevant countries were informed of Russia's airstrikes in advance, and that the U.S. confirmed to Russian side that there were only terrorists in the airstrike regions.
Moscow started the airstrikes which it said were targeting IS forces and fighting terrorism, but U.S. leaders are skeptical of that.
Kartapolov called on other countries to coordinate anti-terrorism activities, noting that the information and coordination center could be used as the sharing channel.
The center was jointly established by Russia, Syria, Iran and Iraq with its headquarters in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Any useful information about the IS group's facilities on the territory of Syria and Iraq is expected to be shared by any country, Kartapolov said.
"(The center) remains open to dialogue with all countries concerned and welcomes any constructive contribution," he said.
Related:
Russian airstrikes target IS command post in Syria's al-Raqqa
DAMASCUS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian war jets struck positions of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS terror group, a monitor group reported Saturday.
The Russian warplanes carried out multiple airstrikes on areas in northern and western parts of al-Raqqa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, spelling no details on losses or causalities. Full story
Putin in Paris to bridge rifts over Syrian conflict ahead of quartet talks
PARIS, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande and visiting Russian leader Vladimir Putin held private talks on Syrian conflict in a move to converge stances on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's role in potential political transition in Damascus.
Ahead of Normandy quartet meeting on Ukraine, both leaders tried to resolve differences on ways to end the civil war in Syria via "extensive discussions" amid tension triggered by Moscow's recent strikes on Islamist fighters in the conflict, local media reported. Full story
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-10/04/c_134682332.htm
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