Russia has carried out its first airstrike in Syria near the city of Homs 13009151

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Defence & Security News - Russia
 
Russia has carried out its first airstrike in Syria near the city of Homs.
According CNN, Russia has carried out its first airstrike in Syria, near the city of Homs. Today, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament has unanimously given a formal consent to President Putin to use the nation’s military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from the Syrian President Bashar Assad.
     
According CNN, Russia has carried out its first airstrike in Syria, near the city of Homs. Today, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament has unanimously given a formal consent to President Putin to use the nation’s military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from the Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft
     

The request for use of force was sent by the president after considering the large number of citizens of Russia and neighboring countries, who went to join terrorist groups fighting in Syria, head of the presidential administration Sergey Ivanov told media.

The developement comes after Moscow has intensified involvement in Syria, establishing an Iraqi-based military communications center with Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran.

Ivanov said that the Air Force operations would be temporary, but was unable to say exactly how long they would be in play.

“In regard to the timeline, the Russian Air Force operation, of course, cannot last forever and has a definite time period, but what the time period is, for example, in regard to the number of days as well as telling you how many aircraft will be used and which armament will be used by our Air Force, I cannot say right now for obvious reasons,” Ivanov said.

According to the Russian constitution, Putin has to request parliamentary approval for the use of Russian troops abroad. The last time he did so was before Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.

According the Oryx Blog, Russia has recently deployed Su-34 'Fullback' fighter bomber to Syria since the initial deployment of the first combat assets to Syria. Six Su-34s are now believed to have joined the four Su-30SMs, twelve Su-24M2s and twelve Su-25s already deployed in Syria.

In addition to thirty-four combat aircraft, up to twenty Mi-17s and Mi-24/35s, two Il-20s and at least three types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are now deployed in Syria.