Moscow: Russia has hit more than 380 "Islamic State targets" since launching its bombing campaign in Syria on September 30, a senior military official said today.
"Since the start of the operation we conducted more than 600 sorties and bombed more than 380 IS targets," Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, a senior Russian General Staff official, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria late last month in support of forces loyal to its longstanding ally President Bashar al-Assad.
The US and other members of a rival coalition targeting IS say Moscow has focused the bulk of its firepower on other rebel groups battling Assad.
"They consider it humiliating to admit that they cannot fulfil a task they had set out for themselves one year ago without Russia," Kartapolov said, adding that the coalition's year-long bombing campaign was "window-dressing."
Kartapolov also accused the coalition of bombing infrastructure essential to a ground operation by the Syrian army.
Speaking at a regional summit in Kazakhstan today, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the more than two-week-old campaign, saying the strikes had "destroyed dozens of command posts, munitions depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large amount of military hardware".
Kartapolov said that Russia -- which already has a naval facility in the port city of Tartus and uses an airfield in Latakia -- could build a full-fledged Russian military base in the country.
"Since the start of the operation we conducted more than 600 sorties and bombed more than 380 IS targets," Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, a senior Russian General Staff official, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria late last month in support of forces loyal to its longstanding ally President Bashar al-Assad.
The US and other members of a rival coalition targeting IS say Moscow has focused the bulk of its firepower on other rebel groups battling Assad.
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"They consider it humiliating to admit that they cannot fulfil a task they had set out for themselves one year ago without Russia," Kartapolov said, adding that the coalition's year-long bombing campaign was "window-dressing."
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Kartapolov also accused the coalition of bombing infrastructure essential to a ground operation by the Syrian army.
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Speaking at a regional summit in Kazakhstan today, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the more than two-week-old campaign, saying the strikes had "destroyed dozens of command posts, munitions depots, hundreds of terrorists and a large amount of military hardware".
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Kartapolov said that Russia -- which already has a naval facility in the port city of Tartus and uses an airfield in Latakia -- could build a full-fledged Russian military base in the country.
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