Iran-Based Russian Bombers Strike Targets in Syria

Russian long-range bombers launched from Iran hit a number of targets in Syria on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Russian warplanes also took off from an airbase in Iran to attack targets in Syria, according to a Russian defense ministry statement. “On August 16, 2016, Tu-23M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 bombers, having taken off from their base in Hamadan [Iran], carried out group airstrikes against targets belonging to Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib,” the statement read.

The Russian ministry claimed the strikes had hit weapon caches and military positions belonging to the militants.

Russia is a key ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and Russian airstrikes have been backing pro-government forces in the ongoing fight for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. A rebel alliance including the former Jabhat al-Nusra group, now known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, is fighting against government forces in Aleppo.

On Monday, the Russian military began exercises near Syria in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Associated Press reported. The aim is to train the navy to respond to “crisis situations of a terrorist nature,” the defense ministry said. Russia has a naval facility in the Syrian port city of Tartus.

U.N. Should Monitor Aid in Aleppo, Germany Says

Germany called on the Syrian government and its Russian ally to allow United Nations-monitored aid supplies into war-torn Aleppo, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Earlier on Monday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Russia to discuss the situation in Aleppo. Steinmeier called for aid airdrops and U.N.-run humanitarian passages.

Russia announced last week that it would observe daily, three-hour cease-fires in Aleppo to allow aid in. Moscow defended the time limit saying that a longer cessation of hostilities would allow “terrorist” groups to gather more weapons and fighters.

“Announcing a three-hour cease-fire for this city is meant to sound as goodwill but in fact is actually cynicism because everybody knows that this time isn’t in the least sufficient to really build up aid for these desperate people,” said Steffen Seibert, a spokesperson for German chancellor Angela Merkel.

Seibert said the Syrian and Russian governments are responsible for meeting “humanitarian minimum requirements,” saying it was up to them whether people would continue to die in Aleppo.

Pentagon Congratulates SDF and People of Manbij on ISIS Defeat

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq has made significant progress according to the Pentagon, CNN reported.

An estimated 45,000 ISIS militants have been killed since mid-2014, when the coalition first started its operations against the group.

Last week, the U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), declared a victory against the militants in the town of Manbij, located near the Turkish border. The SDF are still clearing Manbij of explosives, a U.S. defense official told CNN.

“Manbij city was a key transit point for ISIL [ISIS] fighters going into both Syria and Iraq, and for its external operators plotting attacks against our allies, our partners and our homeland,” said Defense Secretary Ash Carter in a statement congratulating the SDF on Monday.

ISIS militants in their self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa, are reinforcing their bastion with explosives, digging trenches and filling them with tires, U.S. defense officials told CNN.

Recommended Reads

• Human Rights Watch: Syria/Russia: Incendiary Weapons Burn in Aleppo, Idlib
• Carnegie: Manbij: A Dress Rehearsal for Raqqa?
• Foreign Policy: Exclusive: Behind Closed Doors at the U.N., Russia and Turkey are Still Battling
• Agence France-Presse: Even After Defeat, ISIS Sows Fear in Syria’s Manbij
• Al Monitor: Are Regional Powers Finally Reaching Consensus on Syria?