The Russian military has launched airstrikes against Islamic State militant targets in Syria. The move was approved after a request from President Bashar Assad to Vladimir Putin, who has also expressed concern about the number of Russian extremists in the country.
-
07 October 2015
21:00 GMT
The United States has not yet received an answer from Russia to their proposals concerning a number of practical steps aimed at avoiding potential conflicts between the two sides in Syria, the White House press-secretary, Josh Ernest, told journalists.
He added that the US would only engage in military cooperation with Russia if it stopped supporting Assad and constructively contributed to the US-led coalition efforts.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Konashenkov said that the Pentagon’s proposals were being considered and “could be accepted for realization,” although some “technical details” still had to be “discussed by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Pentagon at the level of experts.”
-
20:56 GMT
The Russian and Turkish militaries have established direct contact in order to avoid any incidents on the border between Turkey and Syria, Russia’s defense minister has announced.
“Today, at the level of the Turkish army’s central control and our [Russian] National Defense Center, a direct contact was established in order to secure our operations near Turkey’s border and to avoid incidents involving border crossings in mid-air,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
-
20:53 GMT
Aircraft of the US-led coalition conducting strikes against Islamists in Syria were re-routed at least once during the last week in order to avoid a close encounter with Russian planes, the Pentagon has said.
“We’ve had an instance at least where there’s been action taken to make sure we didn’t have an unsafe separation of space,”said Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
“We have had to do re-routing of the course of an airplane,” he added, although he gave no specific details on whether the aircraft involved was manned or a drone or where the incident had taken place.
- 20:49 GMT
-
15:30 GMT
Russian Su-24 attack aircraft have destroyed ISIS armored vehicles near Aleppo, which were captured by jihadists from the Syrian and Iraqi armies, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
-
15:28 GMT
Russian armed forces are using precision-guided munitions in airstrikes against Islamic State, which have “a maximum deviation from the target of less than 5 meters,” Lieutenant General Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Main Operation Directorate of the General Staff of Russia’s armed forces, said.
“All the targets are being thoroughly studied, using the data from space and radio-electronic intelligence, drone footages, the information received from radio intercepts. We are also using data from Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi intelligence, including undercover sources,” Kartapolov said.
Each bombing is carried out after a review of all available information and “a computer simulation of the future attack,” he added.
-
14:42 GMT
In his speech at a European Parliament plenary session, French President François Hollande urged European countries as well as all parties concerned, including Russia and Iran, to unite to find a political resolution to the Syrian crisis.
“The whole of Europe should join forces for a humanitarian, political and diplomatic plan,” the French president said, as quoted by RIA Novosti.
“I call on the whole of Europe to make effort in order to make a political solution possible. It is necessary that all those willing to find a solution to the crisis – Russia, Iran, the Gulf countries, the USA and Europe – continue to act,” he said.
-
14:17 GMT
All missiles and bombs fired by the Russian military hit their targets and not a single civilian facility was harmed, the commander of Russia’s airspace force, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev said.
“Flight personnel has demonstrated high skills over the elapsed period of time. All bombs and missiles hit targets, without deviations.”
- 14:03 GMT
-
13:46 GMT
Russia has coordinated the timing of its missile strikes from the Caspian Sea with its partners, the Russian General Staff reported.
“On October 5 and 6, our intelligence located several important Islamic State objectives to be immediately annihilated,” said Lieutenant General Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Main Operation Directorate of the General Staff of Russia’s armed forces. He added that “it was decided to use long-range cruise missiles to strike these targets.”
“The cruise missile strikes were coordinated with our partners in advance,” he said.
