RUSSIAN SUMBARINE LAUNCHES CRUISE MISSILES ON TERRORIST TARGETS IN SYRIA’S IDLIB PROVINCE

Friday, 22 September 2017

RUSSIAN SUMBARINE LAUNCHES CRUISE MISSILES ON TERRORIST TARGETS IN SYRIA’S IDLIB PROVINCE

Launching Kalibr cruise missiles at terrorist targets in Syria. 14.09.2017 © Vadim Savitskii / Sputnik

On September 22, the Russian Black Sea fleet’s submarine, Veliky Novgorod, carried out a cruise missile strike on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formelry Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) targets in Syria’s Idlib province, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“The missile strike destroyed important command centers, training bases and armored vehicles of the terrorists who tried to capture 29 Russian military policemen in the north of the Hama Province,” the ministry said in a statement. “The targets included strongholds, militants and armored vehicles, as well as ammunition depots belonging to al-Nusra Front [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/Jabhat al-Nusra] in the Idlib Province. The distance of the strike was nearly 300 kilometers.”

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies started is offensive against government forces and allied Russian troops on September 19 with an aim to seize the key government-held town of Ma’an and capture a platoon (29 servicemen) of the Russian Military Police deployed inside the Idlib de-escalation zone.

However, a de-blocking group consisting of Russian and Syrian troops broke the militant encirclement and rescued the Russian troops. The attack on Ma’an was also repelled.

According to the Russian media, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham used info leaked from the US-led coalition during its attempt to capture the Russian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said that “according to available data, the offensive was initiated by American intelligence services to stop a successful advance of government troops east of Deir ez-Zor [Deir Ezzor].”

Breaking: Russian Navy fires several cruise missiles at Al-Qaeda targets in Idlib

22.09.2017

BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:30 P.M>) – Minutes ago, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that their naval forces fired several cruise missiles towards the Al-Qaeda controlled areas of the Idlib Governorate.

According to the report from the Russian Ministry of Defense, a submarine fired several Kalibr cruise missiles towards a number of Al-Qaeda sites in the Idlib Governorate, scoring direct hits on their intended targets.

According to pro-opposition news pages, the Russian cruise missiles struck Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham’s (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) positions in the towns of Kafr Sajna, Haas, and Maar Shamanen, along with a number of sites in the southern and eastern countrysides of Idlib.