Russia carries out strikes in Syria from Iranian air base
Moscow August 17: The Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday said its bombers carried out air strikes against terrorist targets in Syria from an Iranian air base for the first time.
“Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers took off with full bomb loads from their home airfield of Hamadan (Iran), and carried out an air strike against the Islamic State and Nusra Front terrorist groups’ targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Su-30cm and Su-35s fighters, based in Hmeimim air base in Syria, provided cover for the mission, a statement said.
The ministry said five large warehouses with weapons, ammunition, fuel and lubricants, three command posts and several training camps were destroyed and a significant number of terrorists were killed.
The speaker of Iran’s parliament stressed on Wednesday that Russia does not have a permanent military base within the Islamic Republic, a day after Moscow announced launching airstrikes on Syria from Iran. The fact that Iran allowed Russian warplanes to take off from its territory to bomb targets in Syria was an unprecedented move, underscoring the deepening cooperation between two powerhouses heavily invested in the Syrian civil war.
