Thread: Russian warplanes in Syria destroy U.S.-trained rebels' weapons depots: commander

Russian warplanes in Syria destroy U.S.-trained rebels' weapons depots: commander

53 minutes ago

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A still image from a October 6, 2015 footage shows a Russian air force helicopter on the tarmac of Heymim …


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russian air strikes have destroyed the main weapons depots of a U.S.-trained rebel group in Syria, their commander said on Wednesday, in an expansion of Russian attacks on insurgents backed by foreign enemies of President Bashar al-Assad.

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The Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, whose fighters have attended military training organized by the Central Intelligence Agency in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, was also hit last week by Russian raids as Moscow began its air campaign in support of Damascus.

New strikes targeted the group's main weapons depots in western Aleppo province and completely destroyed them late on Tuesday, its commander Hassan Haj Ali told Reuters on Wednesday via an Internet messaging service.

Haj Ali said he believed the Russians were targeting his group because it was one of the bigger and stronger factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army with support from "Arab and foreign countries".

"These were considered the principal depots of the Liwa," he told Reuters.

Liwa Suqour al-Jabal operates areas of western and northern Syria where many of Russia's air strikes have been focused and where the Islamic State group - the stated target of the Russian air raids - has no significant presence.
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It is one of a number of Syrian rebel groups deemed moderate by the United States which have received training as part of an ostensibly covert CIA program. That program is separate to one set up by the Pentagon to train and equip Syrian insurgents to fight Islamic State.

The group has been supplied with guided anti-tank missiles by states that oppose Assad. These missiles have had a significant impact on the battlefield.

Liwa Suqour al-Jabal has also been battling attempts by Islamic State to advance in areas north of Aleppo near the Turkish border. Haj Ali said Islamic State had also attacked the group on Tuesday, setting off a car bomb at one of its bases.

Liwa Suqour al-Jabal was targeted last week in Russian strikes.

http://news.yahoo.com/russian-warpla...101327740.html

Russia warships fire cruise missiles to back Syrian offensive

2 hours ago

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Moscow (AFP) - Russian warships joined in strikes in Syria with a volley of cruise missile attacks Wednesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged his air force would back a ground offensive by government forces.
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Ships from the Caspian Sea fleet launched 26 cruise missile strikes against 11 targets, Moscow said.

The Russian president also stressed the need for cooperation with a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State jihadists, saying that without cooperation from the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia the intervention was unlikely to work.

Russian efforts "will be synchronised with the actions of the Syrian army on the ground and the actions of our air force will effectively support the offensive operation of the Syrian army," Putin said at a meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Russian forces have struck 112 targets in war-torn Syria since last week launching a bombing campaign that Moscow says is targeting the IS group, Shoigu told Putin in the televised briefing.

"Strikes have hit 112 targets from September 30 until today," Shoigu said. "The intensity of the strikes is increasing."
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Russia says its warships launched 26 cruise missile against 11 targets in Syria (AFP Photo/)

In a sign that Russia was ramping up its involvement, Shoigu said that four Russian warships had hit sites in Syria on Wednesday with cruise missiles.

"In addition to the air force, four warships of the Caspian flotilla have been involved," Shoigu said, adding that the warships had carried out 26 cruise missile strikes against 11 targets.

Russia began air strikes in Syria a week ago following a request by long-standing ally President Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow insists it is hitting IS targets but the US and its allies fear that Moscow is aiming to bolster Assad's regime.

Putin also said that French leader Francois Hollande had suggested a possible plan to get government forces to combine efforts with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, the main moderate opposition group fighting the Damascus regime.

A Hollande aide later denied he had said any such thing. "The president spoke of the necessary presence of the Syrian opposition around a future negotiating table. The rest is not a French idea," he told reporters in Strasbourg.

"During my last visit to Paris, French President Hollande expressed an interesting idea according to which in his opinion it might be possible to at least to try to unite the efforts of the government troops of president Assad's army and the so-called Free Syrian Army," Putin said.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-struck-...114234128.html

Russia is just blowing hot air.
The best they can do is talk big
and put a fresh coat of paint on their
old hardware...