Russian aircraft carrier jets launch first Syria strikes

Moscow/AFP

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that jets from the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier deployed in the eastern Mediterranean had launched their first strikes on Syria.
“For the first time in our naval history, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov started taking part in combat,” Shoigu said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea city of Sochi, according to televised footage. “Today from this carrier, our Sukhoi-33 (bombers) began their operations”, he said.
Russia has been carrying out a bombing campaign in Syria for the past year in support of its ally President Bashar Al-Assad and deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation.
The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean off the Syrian coast as part of a flotilla of ships sent to reinforce Russia’s military in the area.
The biggest naval deployment of recent years saw the flotilla sail from Russia’s Arctic waters down through the North Sea and along the Channel.
This prompted NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to warn the ships could be used to take part in air strikes in Syria and “increase human and civilian suffering.” During initial flights from Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, a Russian MiG crashed into the sea while attempting to land, the defence ministry said Monday.
The pilot ejected and was rescued unhurt, it said.
Shoigu said the “major operation” began at 0730 GMT Tuesday aiming to inflict heavy damage on “the IS group and the Al-Nusra Front’s positions in Idlib and Homs provinces.”
Another ship in the flotilla, the frigate Admiral Grigorovich also fired Kalibr cruise missiles at Syrian targets, the minister said.
The operations targeted stores of ammunition and factories producing chemical warfare agents. “They will continue,” Shoigu said.
The naval fleet is protected by S-400 and S-300 air defence systems that “cover the sea area practically to Cyprus” as well as by Bastion missile complexes on shore, the defence chief said. “Today we are able to hit both sea and land targets across almost 350 kilometres (218 miles) of sea and almost 450 kilometres of land,” Shoigu said.

Syria regime raids
hit east Aleppo
On the other hand, Syrian government air strikes and barrel bomb attacks hit residential neighbourhoods of rebel-held east Aleppo for the first time in nearly a month, a monitor said.
“Regime aircraft launched strikes and dropped barrel bombs on a number of neighbourhoods in the east of Aleppo for the first time since October 18,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. An AFP photographer in the eastern side of the city said the Sakhur and Masakan Hanano neighbourhoods had been hit.
The raids came as Moscow said jets taking off from the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean had launched their first strikes in Syria, in Idlib and Homs provinces.
The bombardment of east Aleppo ended a period of relative quiet for more than 250,000 people living in the besieged rebel-held side of the city.
Moscow announced on October 18 it was halting its air strikes in Aleppo ahead of a short-lived truce, and Syrian strikes on the rebel east have also subsided since then, with bombardment mostly confined to areas where clashes were taking place on the edge of the city. The respite came after international criticism of a ferocious assault launched by Syrian and Russian forces on September 22 in a bid to recapture eastern Aleppo city.
The bombing campaign killed hundreds of people, including civilians and destroyed infrastructure.
Moscow has organised several brief truces intended to encourage residents and surrendering rebels to leave east Aleppo, but few have done so.
No aid has entered the east of the city since it was first surrounded by government troops in mid-July, and the UN warned on Thursday it was distributing its last remaining food rations in the rebel districts.
On Sunday, residents in the east received text messages from the army warning rebels to leave within 24 hours. “Those who want to save their lives must put down their weapons and their safety will be guaranteed. After the end of this period, the planned strategic offensive will begin,” the message said.
Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that started in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
It has been divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.