Highlight
Russia, which launched its airstrikes in conflict –torn Syria end of September 2015 claims to have already hit more than 380 Islamic State hideouts to date.
Summary
Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, a senior Russian General Staff official released a public statement as an update on the country’s participation in the war against the Islamic State.
Moscow started hitting militant targets on September 30th and according to Kartapolov, they have conducted more than 600 sorties and bombed more than 380 IS targets since the onset of the operation.
The US, leading a coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and other members of the coalition say Moscow has focused the bulk of its firepower on other rebel groups battling Assad.
However, according to Moscow, the airstrikes are in support of forces loyal to its longstanding ally President Bashar al-Assad yet focus on restoring peace to the war-torn country.
The US has also expressed concern that Russia may advance airstrikes in the neighbouring Iraq, an accusation that Moscow is yet to reply to. Intelligence resources however unveiled a coalition intelligence cell already operational in Baghdad to which Moscow subscribes.
According to analysts, US concern over Russia expanding its targets to Iraq outdoes the former’s concern that Moscow is out only to strengthen Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
