Russia: Russia bombs Syrian groups from Iran base for first time
Russia has deployed long-range bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan to carry out air strikes against militants in Syria, the Russian government said on Tuesday.
“On 16 August, Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamadan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib,” a defence ministry statement said.
The statement said the raids eliminated five major “terrorist weapons depots” and training compounds in the area as well as three command posts and a “large number of terrorists”.
Responding to the statement, Washington said the development was “unfortunate but not surprising”.