Russian Missiles Crash Land in Iran

Russian Federation had displayed graphics of the missiles flying over Iran and Iraq on Wednesday. It made no mention of any missiles going astray, suggesting that the operation was fully successful.

Twenty six cruise missiles were fired from four Russian ships on the Caspian sea.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Russia must recognize that if it targets opposition groups in Syria that are fighting Islamic State, “Russia will strengthen IS and this can be neither in the Russian interest, nor in our interest”.

This video includes images from Getty Images.

France and Britain, NATO’s two main European powers, are understood to be willing to see the alliance use its new 5,000-strong rapid reaction force beyond North Atlantic Treaty Organisation borders, potentially helping stabilize post-conflict governments in Libya or Syria.

And the Russian airstrikes have been also been backing Syrian government ground combat in Syria.

Kurtulmus recalled the good relations existing between Turkey and Russian Federation, and said: “The relations between Russian Federation and Turkey should not be upset by events in Syria”.

Syria’s ambassador to Russian Federation, Riad Haddad, said Wednesday that around 40% of ISIS infrastructure had been destroyed since Moscow’s military operation began, Russia’s state-run Sputnik worldwide reported. “The clashes also killed 11 (rebel) fighters”, he said in a statement, and the numbers were expected to rise as more casualties were confirmed.

CBS’ Steve Croft raised the issue during an interview for “60 Minutes,” where he questioned whether the Russian leader’s actions have forced the USA to take a back seat in leading world events.

His fighters had been trained by the Central Intelligence Agency in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, part of a programme Washington says is aimed at supporting groups that oppose Islamic State and Mr Assad.

Kafr Nabl, a town in northern Idlib province where a headquarters of a faction of the US-backed Free Syrian Army is located, was struck last week.

The Gulf official also added that four years after the start of the Syrian conflict and after thousands of deaths, neither the West nor the Gulf states have a strategy for resolving it. He said that there is a need for clearer USA leadership and that the worst thing the West can do at the moment is to accept a compromise with Assad, even for a limited period of time.

And over the weekend, Russian jets flew into Turkish airspace in an incident that angered Ankara and led to warnings from Turkey’s allies.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said that coalition forces fighting IS in Syria would not co-operate with Russian Federation.

That the pilots are equipped with AK-74’s – a refined version of the AK-47 – means that Moscow is at least aware of the risky nature of its intervention in the Syrian civil war on behalf of President Bashar Assad.