MOSCOW, Russian Federation. A senior Russian military official has vehemently rejected US allegations that Russian cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea and aimed at Daesh positions in Syria have crashed in Iran.
“Any professional knows that during these operations we always fix the target before and after impact. All our cruise missiles hit their target,” Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement on Thursday.
The remarks came in response to earlier claims by two unnamed US officials that a number of Russian Syria-bound projectiles landed in Iran on Wednesday. One official told CNN news network on Thursday that there may be casualties, while another said it is not yet known.
“Unlike CNN, we don’t report quoting anonymous sources, but we show launches of our missiles and the targets they hit in real-time mode,” Konashenkov said.
“No matter how unpleasant and unexpected it is for our colleagues in the Pentagon and Langley, our strike yesterday with precision-guided weapons at ISIS (Daesh) infrastructure in Syria hit its targets,” the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman added.
On Wednesday, the Russian Navy launched a total of 26 cruise missiles at terrorist targets in Syria from its warships in the Caspian Sea. The Russian Defense Ministry also released video footage of the missile launches.
“[Last] night the ship strike group of the Russian Navy, consisting of the Dagestan missile ship, the small-sized missile ships, Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich and Veliky Ustyug, launched cruise missiles against ISIS infrastructural facilities in Syria from the assigned district of the Caspian Sea,” the Defense Ministry noted in a comment accompanying the released video image.
The ministry stressed that the attack was launched “by high-precision ship missile systems, Kalibr-NK, the cruise missiles of which engaged all the assigned targets successfully and with high accuracy.”
Moscow began its military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.
U.S. warplanes ordered to divert to avoid Russian fighter jet in Syria
U.S. military rerouted their aircrafts to avoid a Russian fighter jet
It marked the first time the United States had to divert its warplanes since Russia launched an air campaign in Syria at the end of last month.
The two planes were F-16s that took off from a Turkish airfield on Wednesday and were on their way to a Daesh (ISIL) stronghold in the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa, CNN reports, citing a senior Pentagon official.
The official said that American pilots have been instructed to change their flight paths if they encounter Russian aircraft within 20 nautical miles.
U.S. and Russian defense officials have met at least once to discuss procedures to avoid accidents between aircraft from the US-led coalition and Russian warplanes over Syria.
“We will keep the channel open because it’s a matter of safety and security for our pilots,” Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
The Pentagon has said the discussions are limited to discussing safety procedures and are not aimed at coordinating military operations with Russia.
“We have not agreed to cooperate with Russia, so long as they continue to pursue their mistaken strategy and hit these non-ISIL targets,” Davis said.
US counter-terrorism officials say Russia has been intentionally targeting militant groups backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Syria.
Officials have said Russia’s moves in Syria pose a direct challenge to President Barack Obama’s Syria policy.
Administration officials said they believe Russia’s targeting of US-allied forces is aimed at shoring up the Syrian government and sending a message to the White House.
With assistance from its regional allies Jordan and Turkey, the US has been conducting a program to train and arm “moderate” militants in Syria purportedly to combat Daesh terrorists.
Credit: PressTV
