Russian Parliament Grants Vladimir Putin Permission for Air Strikes in Syria

Putin’s chief of staff Sergei B. Ivanov told the upper house that the measure was meant to authorize actions by Moscow’s air force in Syria.

Vladimir Putin and his Russian parliament unanimously approved the use of military force in Syria this morning as he bolstered his support of Bashar al-Assad by sending six of its most advanced fighter bomber jets to the Middle East war zone.

“The military aim of our operations will be exclusively to provide air support to Syrian government forces in their struggle against ISIS (Islamic State)”.

“The objective of these de-confliction discussions will be to ensure that ongoing coalition air operations are not interrupted by any future Russian military activity, to ensure the safety of coalition air crews and to avoid misjudgment and miscalculation”, he added.

A US defense said the strikes hit near Homs – Syria’s largest provinces that borders Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

Russian Federation hasn’t acknowledged the beginning of any airstrikes, although Syrian activists say they have seen stepped-up bombardment in the suburbs of Homs and Hama.

Using another name for the Islamic State group, Obama said, “Defeating ISIL requires, I believe, a new leader and an inclusive government that unites the Syrian people in the fight against terrorist groups”.

Putin had requested similar permission from the Federation Council to deploy military forces overseas ahead of the annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Ivan Konavolov, a Russian military expert, told Reuters Russia’s decision to launch air strikes appeared to have been motivated by realpolitik.

‘For Russian forces to operate there legitimately…a law was needed’.

President Francois Hollande announced Sunday that France launched its first airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, meets with Security Council members at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, September 29, 2015.

“We proposed that the fight against terrorism be incorporated into a binding global document and no country be allowed to use terrorism for the objective of intervention in the affairs of other countries”, Putin told the UN General Assembly.

The Russian president also said he had not ruled out air strikes on IS.