In a first, Iran has allowed Russia to use one of its bases to stage and take off for attacks inside Syria — something unheard of in modern times in the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.
In Tehran, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, yesterday as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged “capacity and possibilities” in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.
Photo: AFP
“With constructive and extended cooperation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front [Hezbollah], the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them,” Shamkhahi said.
The departure of Russian warplanes from a base in Iran marks a major development in Syria’s civil war, now in its sixth year.
Russia has never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government for nearly a year.
The announcement suggests cooperation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.
It comes a day after Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.
Shoigu said the agreement would “allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory,” adding that Russian representatives are “in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.”
However, a US official said that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
Russia and the US have been discussing greater coordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.
Russia has criticized what it describes as US reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
The Russian ministry’s statement issued said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target IS and al-Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.
Al-Nusra Front is al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
The group recently announced it was changing its name to Fath al-Sham and severing ties with the global terror network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and US-led airstrikes, but Russia and the US have dismissed the name change as window-dressing.
The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as “terrorist objects in Syria.”
A top Russian lawmaker said the decision to use an Iranian base would help to cut costs.
The Interfax news agency quoted Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, former commander of the Black Sea fleet and a State Duma deputy, as saying that “the issue of costs for combat actions is paramount right now, we should stick to the current defense ministry budget.”
“Tu-22 flights from Iran means less fuel and a bigger bomb load,” but the downside of taking off from a base in Syria is that warplanes have to fly over the combat zone, Komoyedov said.
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