Russian Federation says bombards Syria targets from Caspian Sea warships

“Pilots and technicians of #Hmeymim airbase sent a message to terrorists by airmail”, the Russian defence ministry said on its official Twitter account.

President Vladimir Putin has always claimed the campaign of air strikes he launched in September is aimed at “terrorists”, but the West has accused him of targeting more moderate opponents of Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

Russian and Syrian warplanes launched dozens of air strikes on areas of eastern Syria on Friday, after the the so-called Islamic State fighters staged an assault on an air base near the city of Deir al-Zor, a monitoring group said.

Strategic bombers flying over Russian territory unleashed 12 cruise missiles at Islamic State group targets including warehouses and command posts in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces as they launched their “third massive air strike”, the defence ministry said in a statement.

A squadron of Tu-22M3 long-range bombers on Thursday struck six facilities in the provinces of Raqqa and Deir el Zour, hitting IS oil refineries, an ammunition depot and a facility manufacturing and repairing mortars, Kartapolov added.

Russian Embassy officials tweeted a photograph of the bomb attached to a warplane today as its army destroyed 15 oil refining and storage facilities in Syria.

A total of 500 oil tankers, smuggling oil from Syria to Iraq, were also destroyed.

Russian Federation has given the United States advance notice before it conducts air strikes in Syria at least three times since last week’s attacks in Paris, a USA official said on Friday.

French President Francois Hollande is set to travel to Washington and Moscow next week for talks on joint military action against IS, and Putin already has ordered the military to cooperate with the French. The Russian military hasn’t yet commented on the exercise.