Russia’s Air Force fleet in Syria includes over 50 warplanes and helicopters, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry said, reporting eight overnight sorties.
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Previously Russia hadn’t revealed any detail of its contingent in Syria, which started an aerial campaign on Wednesday to help the Syrian Army fight against terrorist troops.
“The air group was deployed on very short notice. It was possible because we had most of the materiel and ammunition ready at our depot in Tartus. We only had to move our aircraft and deliver some extra equipment,” spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov told the media.
The fleet includes the latest Su-24M and Su-25 ground attack planes, he said.
The airstrikes on Wednesday night targeted four Islamic State facilities, Konashenkov said.
“A terrorist HQ and an ammunition depot were destroyed near Idlib, as were a fortified three-level command center near Hama,” he said. “A direct bomb hit also completely destroyed a workshop north of Homs that produced explosives and ammunition,” he added, saying that at this workshop terrorists were stuffing vehicles with explosives. Those vehicles were then used to conduct terror attacks.
The night sorties raise the number of targets hit by Russia in Syria in the first 24 hours of the operation to 12.
“All the airstrikes are being conducted in coordination with the Syrian Army command. The Syrian Defense Ministry has deployed an operative group at the Hmaimim air base,” the Russian official said, referring to the airfield near near Basel al-Assad international airport south of Latakia, where the Russian forces are based.
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