US-Led Coalition Notified in Advance of Russia’s Strikes from Iranian Air Base: Pentagon
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Pentagon said Russia had notified the US-led coalition against Daesh (also known as ISIL and ISIS) in advance about using an Iranian air base for bombing terrorists’ positions across Syria.
"The Russians did notify the coalition," Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Iraqi capital Baghdad, told journalists during a briefing via teleconference on Tuesday, RT reported.
He said that the Russian side "informed us they were coming through" airspace that could potentially put them in proximity of the coalition air forces in Iraq and Syria, adding that the US maintained safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then flew back.
Garver stressed that the flight by the Russian bombers had not affected the coalition’s air operations.
In the meantime, the spokesman of the US State Department said that Russia’s use of an Iranian airfield in its air strikes in Syria was not “unexpected”.
"It’s unfortunate but not surprising or unexpected,” Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Russian long-range Tu-22M3 bombers carried out the first airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria operating from Hamadan airfield in northwestern Iran. The strikes eliminated five major terrorist weapons depots and training compounds as well as three command posts and a significant number of terrorists in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib provinces.
The bombers were covered by Su-30sm and Su-35s jet fighters operating from Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in Syria. The number of military aircraft deployed at Hamadan airbase was not disclosed.
Iran and Russia have been assisting Syria in its fight against terrorist groups upon official requests by the Damascus government.
The two countries have been looking for a solution to a crisis that has plagued the Arab country for more than five years.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists, including the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, currently controlling parts of it, mostly in the east.
The Syrian conflict has killed at least 260,000 people, according to the UN, and more than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 22.4 million has been internally displaced or fled abroad.
