After the first days of the offensive against the Islamic State, the Air Force of Russia (Военно-воздушные cилыРоссии) said it was successful in attacking the command center and training ground of the self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria.
"On October 1, the Su-34 carried out attacks against an Islamic state training ground near the village of Mahdan-Jadid and against a control center near Qasert-Faraj, southwest of Raqqa," said major general Igor Konashenkov was quoted as spokesman of the Defense Ministry of Russia.
According to the Russian military, the command center was in a protected area and suffered severe damage, while the training camp was completely destroyed.
Russia launched attacks to the caliphate in the last 30th of September, after the Council of Federation (upper house of parliament) approved sending a military force to Syria. The decision was presented by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, after receiving an official request from Damascus. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has come under strong pressure after the Arab Spring and lost the country of control. The coalition force led by the US is against the al-Assad regime, which took over Syria in 2000 after the death of his father, who ruled with an iron fist for more than 30 years.
Sending troops to Syria to support the al-Assad regime has been heavily criticized by the West, making it the delicate relationship between Europe, USA and Russia. After the announcement of the attacks, the seven members of the alliance against the terrorist group (Germany, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United States, France, United Kingdom and Turkey) made a request to Russia to not attack the opposition groups in Syria and focus their actions military against jihadists.
"We express our deep concern with the Russian Air Force attacks on Hama, Homs and Idlib, which caused civilian casualties and had not targeted the Islamic State," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey on behalf of the coalition.
Activists and Syrian opponents complained that several bases of rebel groups such as the Free Syrian Army (SLA) and the Army of Fatah were bombed by Russian forces in Idlib and Hama. Moscow, however, did not comment on the actions in both cities.
