Russian anti-terror op in Syria Live updates

 30 Sep, 2015 14:52

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A Sukhoi-34 jet © Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA Novosti

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The Russian Air Force has launched airstrikes against targets of Islamic State militants in Syria, the country’s Defense Ministry said. The move was approved at a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

• 30 September 2015

  14:52 GMT

  Moscow believes it’s necessary to include Islamic State and those who support them in the UN Security Council’s anti-terrorist sanction list, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said at a UN Security Council meeting in New York.

  “Delays in addressing this obvious issue are becoming counterproductive in terms of the effectiveness of counter-terrorism efforts of the United Nations,” Lavrov said.

• 14:28 GMT

   

   

   

• 14:20 GMT

  US planes continue to fly in Syria despite Russia’s warning to clear the airspace, a US official told Reuters.

• 14:16 GMT

  Russia will deliver preemptive strikes against terrorists, Vladimir Putin said.

  According to the Russian president, Moscow is interested in other nations joining its counterterrorism effort in Syria. Those willing to do so can join the intelligence sharing center in Baghdad, which Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran established in the run-up to the operation, the president said.

  “All our partners have been informed about the plans and actions of Russia on Syrian situation,” he said.

• 14:06 GMT

   

   

   

• 14:03 GMT

  Russian airstrikes in Syria do not appear to be targeting areas controlled by IS militants, a US official told Reuters.

• 14:03 GMT

  Russia has informed the US embassy in Baghdad about the use of the Russian Air Force in Syria, the Pentagon official told RIA Novosti.

• 14:03 GMT

  The coordination center in Iraq will monitor the airstrikes on positions of Islamic State, Riad Haddad, Syria’s ambassador to Moscow told TASS.

  “The coalition of US and their allies hasn’t yielded any results. The geographic territory of IS is expanding, they have captured and continue capturing more cities and villages.”

• 14:02 GMT

  The North Atlantic Council [NATO] is monitoring Russian military in Syria and “will continue doing so,” an official from the alliance press service told TASS.

• 14:02 GMT

  US sources said Russia has already started military operation against Islamic State militants in Syria. The official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Russia gave the US 60 minutes’ notice of the operations.

• 14:02 GMT

   

   

   

• 14:01 GMT

  Deputy Foreign Minister Mihail Bogdanov said Russia will inform its foreign partners of its game plan in Syria “during the course of the day.”

• 14:00 GMT

  The bombing campaign is time-limited, the head of the presidential administration Sergey Ivanov told media. He said he was not authorized to disclose details of the operation such as the number of warplanes involved.

  “All our partners and allies will be informed about our decision today through corresponding military channels. Specific military information will be provided as well, I believe,” he said.

• 13:58 GMT

  Russia’s upper chamber has given the go-ahead to President Putin’s request to send military aid to Syria in the fight against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), said Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin’s cabinet chief.

  “The President of the Syrian Arab Republic has appealed to our government with a request for military assistance… There is a need to fight terrorism, and to unite our efforts. But in so doing, we must remain mindful of international law,” Ivanov told reporters.

  He also said the US and France had circumvented international law with their campaign of airstrikes in Syria for some time, as no UN resolution had been secured.

• 11:15 GMT

  Military engagement in Syria would not result in Russia being mired in conflict, Konstantin Kosachev, head of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, said commenting on the news.

  “We would not risk getting stuck in a long conflict and threaten the lives of our troops. The operation is aerial only. Certainly, in coordination with the ground operation of the Syrian army,” he told the Rossiya 24 news channel.

• 11:06 GMT

   

   

   

• 10:06 GMT

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

  “This is not about reaching for some foreign policy goals, satisfying ambitions, which our Western partners regularly accuse us of. It’s only about the national interest of the Russian Federation,” the official said.

  He added that no ground operations are expected for Syria.

  “The military goal of the operation is strictly to provide air support for the [Syrian] government forces in their fight against Islamic State,” he said.