Russia on Wednesday launched a second wave of airstrikes in Syria from a base in Iran, underlining its intensification of an air war in the country.
The Russian defense ministry said Tuesday that it was flying Tupolev Tu-22 long-range bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters from the air base near the city of Hamadan. The first wave reportedly hit targets in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib.
The move marks the first “significant stationing” of Russian troops in Iran since World War II, according to The Associated Press.
{mosads}Iranian officials say Russia does not have a permanent base in Iran and is just using the base for refueling. However, the ability to refuel and fly from Iran shortens the length of time Russian bombers need to fly into Syria.
Russia began an air campaign in Syria last September to shore up the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is locked in a civil war with Western-backed anti-regime rebels and extremist groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In recent weeks, the fight has focused on Aleppo, where some parts of the city are controlled by the regime and some by the anti-regime forces.
While Russia has claimed that it is striking terrorist targets, U.S. officials say it is mostly targeting the opposition, including those backed by the West.
The spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition against ISIS said on Tuesday that Russia’s strikes from Iran came with little advance notice to the U.S., which is also flying missions in Syria.
Army Col. Chris Garver said Russia notified the U.S. through a deconfliction channel that it planned to fly from Iran through Iraq to strike targets in Syria and then go back. The spokesman would not say how much advance notice was given, but he said it did not disrupt coalition operations against ISIS.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that they did not know if Russia planned to fly more missions from the base.
The State Department on Tuesday called the move “not helpful.” State spokesman Matt Toner confirmed that the subject came up in a conversation between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Kerry has been seeking a deal with Russia to share intelligence on targets in exchange for Russia curtailing its bombing of opposition targets. The U.S. is also pressing Russia to pressure Assad to negotiate a peaceful resolution of the five-plus-year war.
“It’s not helpful to the situation that we currently have, where we’ve got this stalemate around Aleppo, where we have … insufficient access to humanitarian assistance, where we have civilian populations at incredible risk, and we have — we’re no closer to any kind of credible cessation of hostilities like we had a few months ago, certainly not nationwide,” Toner said.
Toner said that Russia’s increased cooperation with Iran would not preclude further discussions with Russia on a possible agreement.
“We continue to pursue that,” he said.