At least 12 militants from the Islamic State (IS) group have been killed in Russia’s first air strikes on the extremist faction’s main Syrian bastion, a monitoring group said.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it had carried out strikes on Raqa province on Thursday.
It said Russian Su-34 planes struck “an IS training camp near the village of Maadan Jadid,” 70 kilometres east of Raqa city, and “a camouflaged command post at Kasrat Faraj, southwest of Raqa.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes had killed at least a dozen IS fighters.
“Last night, Russian strikes on the western edges of Raqa city, and near the Tabqa military airport, killed 12 IS militants,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said on Friday adding that their bodies were transported to a hospital in the province.
Moscow’s defence ministry said Friday that its war planes had “conducted 18 sorties on 12 positions held by the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria” since Thursday.
The statement said Russian raids destroyed “a command post and communications centre” held by IS in Daret Ezza in northern Aleppo province, as well as bunkers and weapons depots in Maaret al-Numan and Habeet in northwest Idlib province.
Raids also struck “an IS command post” in Kafr Zeita in central Hama province.
According to the Observatory, none of these areas are controlled by IS, though most are held by al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
And according to a Syrian military source, Russian strikes on Friday also targeted an ancient Christian town in Homs province seized by IS on August 5.
“Russian warplanes struck Al-Qaryatain this morning,” the source said.