Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that jets from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier deployed in the eastern Mediterranean had launched their first strikes on Syria.
“Today at 10:30 and 11 am (0730 and 0800 GMT), we started a major operation to conduct mass fire damage on the ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front’s positions in the Idlib and Homs provinces,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by TASS news agency, referring to Takfiri groups fighting the Syrian government.
“For the first time in our naval history, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov started taking part in combat,” he added.
Shoigu said that the Russian Admiral Grigorovich frigate targeted terrorists in Syria with Kalibr cruise missile strikes.
According to him, Admiral Grigorovich frigate, Bastion coastal missile systems and “for the first time in history of the Russian Naval Forces” Admiral Kuznetsov aicraft-carrying cruiser take part in the military operation.
“Admiral Grigorovich [frigate] takes part in the operation. Today, it launched Kalibr cruise missiles on [terrorist] targets that had been confirmed by intelligence data and determined in advance,” the minister said at a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with top officials of the Russian Armed Forces.
Shoigu said that the Russian Armed Forces launch strikes on terrorists’ plants in Syria, especially those producing poisonous substances. “It’s clear that it’s a well-organized industrial production, that’s why we carry out strikes [on terrorist plants].”
“Ammunition depots, terrorist training centers and plants producing different means of unconventional weapons are the main targets of the strikes.”
Source: AFP
