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Russia fires cruise missiles at Islamic State targets from Mediterranean
Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures during an interview with French daily newspaper Le Figaro in Paris, France, May 29, 2017. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin
31/05/2017
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian warship and submarine have fired four cruise missiles from the Mediterranean at Islamic State targets near the Syrian city of Palmyra, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
The strike, which Russian news agencies said was the first of its kind since November, was carried out by the frigate "Admiral Essen" and the submarine "Krasnodar," and targeted militants and equipment in an area east of Palmyra.
The defense ministry said the hardware and forces struck had previously been deployed by Islamic State in Raqqa.
"All targets were destroyed," it said in a statement.
Russia had warned the United States, Turkey and Israel before launching the missiles, the ministry said.
It did not say when the strike took place, but Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had personally told President Vladimir Putin about the military action late on Tuesday.
The last time Russia fired Kalibr cruise missiles from its ships at militant targets in Syria was in November last year, the RIA news agency said.
Separately, photographs published on Wednesday by Turkish bloggers for their online Bosphorus Naval News project showed a Russian Syria-bound ship passing through the Bosphorus carrying a consignment of military trucks.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova/Dmitry Solovyov/Jack Stubbs; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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