Iranian Commanders Killed in Syria as Assad, Allies Attack

Both U.S. and Russian defense officials are confirming a few progress made on a basic understanding on air safety over Syria, where the two nations are both conducting airstrikes against ISIS, and are trying to avoid getting into a direct conflict with each other while doing so.

The government’s first aim is to advance north towards Idlib province, almost all of which was captured by rebels this year in an attack spearheaded by Islamists including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group.

Russian Federation has said its military campaign in Syria was primarily meant to battle ISIS and other extremist groups operating there, but it has since focused on targeting rebel groups, including a few supported by the United States, battling President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

The Pentagon has tracked Russian ships that fired the Kalibr-type cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea last week, and the ships have been resupplied with missiles and are ready to fire another salvo, the official said. “They are breaking the Russian-Iranian and Syrian army”, he said.

“The situation is so far good: continued supplies of rockets and ammunition, but no clear increase”, said the second commander, who declined to be identified.

The Russian airstrikes have allowed Syrian government forces to launch a multipronged ground assault. He helped establish the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, commanded units in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, and organised Shiite militias in Iraq after the 2003 United States invasion.

The message also confirmed the death of Abu Mutaz Qarashi, a senior IS commander.

He said on Tuesday Washington also told Moscow it won’t be receiving the Russian delegation.

In a briefing with reporters Tuesday, Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said the two planes were “close enough for them to get a few visual contact, but they were miles apart”, perhaps as much as 10 to 20 miles, according to initial reports. The Iranian-backed group Hezbollah has also sent a fresh wave of fighters to Syria, he told The Associated Press.

In defending the US air campaign, Warren said 70 senior and mid-level ISIS leaders have been killed by USA airstrikes since May, forcing the group to constantly replace that leadership.

Russian Federation says its air strikes in Syria that began September 30 were targeting Islamic State, though many of them have struck in areas held by other rebel groups, including a few that have received backing from Assad’s foreign enemies. The report did not elaborate.

“Give all moral, material, political and military” support to the war against the Syrian government and its Iranian and Russian backers, Reuters quoted the Saudi clerics as saying in the statement. On Friday, Brigadier General Hassan Hamedani, the head of the Guards’ elite Quds Force in Syria, was said to have been killed on the outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo in clashes with Islamic State militants.