Russian Navy Can Attack ISIL Positions in Syria at Any Moment
The Russian warships operating in the Mediterranean can be used in the fight
against ISIL in Syria, the Russian General Staff said Friday.
Sputnik 13:10 16.10.2015(updated 15:57 16.10.2015)
http://sputniknews.com/military/20151016/1028612904/russian-navy-missiles-isil-syria.html

Russian Navy can carry out missile strikes on the Islamic State positions in
Syria at any moment, if ordered by the high command, the Russian General
Staff said Friday.

The Russian warships operating in the Mediterranean can be used in the fight
against ISIL in Syria, if need be, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, head
of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, said in an
interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

"Our group in the Mediterranean primarily supplies materials. For this to go
unhampered, a group of attack vessels is deployed there as well. In
addition, this group guarantees our base's air defense. We are in no way
using these air defense systems against coalition countries," he said.

The Russian General Staff does not rule out the establishment of a military
base in Syria consisting of naval, air, and ground troop components,
Kartapolov said.

Kartapolov stressed that there are no Russian officers in the ranks of the
Syrian Army.

“Our group is operating on its own and we have a small operations group from
the Syrian Armed Forces at our headquarters in Syria that provides
coordination of flights with the Syrian Air Force and gives us exact
information of where front line of the government troops is,” he said.

Prior to its air operation against ISIL in Syria Russia established an
information center in Baghdad to share intelligence with Iraq, Syria and
Iran. According to Kartapolov, Russia invited the US to cooperate, but the
Americans never responded to this invitation.

“They have a number of reasons not to do so,” he said. “They believe it is
humiliating to acknowledge that without Russia they cannot achieve their
goals which they announced a year ago.”

“They are unlikely to have enough information on ISIL facilities, and the
results of their airstrikes bear witness to that. They have a vague
understanding of where the militants’ objects really are and it probably
embarrasses them to admit that,” Kartapolov said.

Russia started precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria on
September 30, following a request from Syria's internationally recognized
government. The Russian airstrikes hit targets that are chosen based on
intelligence collected by Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.