Russian warplanes have attacked the Islamic State (IS) group and other insurgents in central and northern Syria with a wave of fresh airstrikes, Syrian and Russian military officials said Saturday.
Russian <g data-gr-id="32">air strikes</g> destroyed an IS command post near Raqa, among other targets, the defence ministry said on Saturday, as Moscow pressed on with its bombing campaign in Syria.
“Over the past 24 hours SU-34 and SU-24M jets of the Russian airborne formation in Syria made more than 20 sorties over nine Islamic State infrastructure facilities,” the ministry said.
SU-34 fighters jet dropped a concrete busting BETAB-500 bomb on a command post in the area of IS stronghold Raqa, releasing video of the strike.
“A powerful explosion in the bunker means that it was also used by terrorists to store a large amount of ammunition,” the ministry said in a statement.
SU-24 bombers also destroyed a warehouse that stored ammunition in mountains near the city of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. The warehouse was completely destroyed, the ministry said, referring to a “huge cloud of smoke and crater” following the strikes.
SU-34 fighter jets also targeted a training camp, belonging to the Islamic State group, near the town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province and destroyed ammunition and equipment, the ministry said.
Russian unmanned aerial vehicles continue to monitor the areas under <g data-gr-id="39">control</g> of the Islamic State group, the statement said.
“All targets get destroyed quickly, irrespective of weather conditions and time of the day,” the statement read.
Russia had on Wednesday launched air strikes in Syria, its first major military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.
Russia says it is targeting the IS group and al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, but at least some of the strikes appear to have hit Western-backed rebel factions.
At least 39 civilians, including eight children and eight women, have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria in the past four days, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory said only 14 fighters had been killed — 12 from the Islamic State (IS) militant group around the eastern city of Raqa, and two from the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
Meanwhile, in Damascus, an unnamed Syrian military official was quoted by state TV as saying that the “concentrated and precise” airstrikes destroyed a command center in the central town of Latamneh in Hama province and targeted positions in the northwestern areas of Jisr al-Shughour and Maaret al-Numan.
Washington has accused Russia of striking moderate rebels fighting against the embattled Syrian president under cover of a claimed assault on IS militants. US President Barack Obama had warned on Friday that Moscow’s aggressive military campaign in Syria was a “recipe for disaster”.