Tri-Service

Russian Warships Launch Cruise Missiles On Syria

The Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says the country is using warships in the Caspian Sea to target Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Moscow last week began carrying out air strikes in Syria in what it said was a pre-emptive operation against terrorism in the Middle East.

Mr Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin in televised remarks that Russia has now carried out 26 missile strikes from four warships of its Caspian Sea fleet.

Mr Shoigu insisted the operation destroyed all the 11 targets and did not launch any strikes upon civilian areas.

It's raised questions over what countries the missiles flew over en route to Syria, whilst raising concerns over the possibility of a missile entering Turkish airspace (see below).

Picture: Google

There's also fears over the possibility of the missiles sharing the same airspace as the coalition aircraft conducting airstrikes over Iraq and Syria.

Russian state-funded news outlet RT.com reports that the missiles flew around 900 miles before reaching their targets, with the attacks requiring cooperation from Iran and Iraq, as the missiles had to travel through their airspace to reach Syria.

It added that four warships based in the Caspian sea were involved in the attacks: the Gepard-class frigate Dagestan and the Buyan-M-class corvettes Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich and Veliky Ustyug, which used cruise missiles capable of hitting a target within 10 foot at a range of up to 1,550 miles.

It comes as the head of Iraq's parliament’s Defence and Security Committee Hakim al-Zamili told Reuters that the country may request Russian airstrikes against IS on its soil soon, saying it wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the US in the war against the group.

“We might be forced to ask Russia to launch airstrikes in Iraq soon. I think the upcoming few days or weeks Iraq will be forced to ask Russia to launch airstrikes and that depends on their success in Syria.”

It comes after heavy fighting broke out in central Syria, with government troops backed by Russian air strikes battling insurgents, according to activists.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a government offensive began on four fronts in the north-western provinces of Idlib and neighbouring Hama.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said it was "the most intense fighting in months".

Activist Ahmad al-Ahmad, who is in Idlib, says government troops were "heavily" shelling central areas after rebels attacked an army post and destroyed a tank.

Moscow says it is targeting the Islamic State group and al Qaida's Syrian affiliate, but at least some of the strikes appear to have hit Western-backed rebel factions.