News / Russia

Russian warship joins battle against terrorism in Syria

Wednesday, 30 March 2016 8:50 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 30 March 2016 8:49 PM ]

A Russian Buyan-M class warship (file photo)

Russia’s “Serpukhov” warship is heading to the Syrian coastline to join the battle against Takfiri terrorists.

The Buyan-M class corvette left the Crimean Peninsula’s port of Sevastopol on Wednesday and is headed towards the Mediterranean, where it will replace the “Zeleny Dol,” a ship of her same class which has been deployed at the port of Tartus since early last month.

Serpukhov is armed with eight Calibre-NK long-range cruise missiles capable of neutralizing targets on land, sea and air.

Russia has used the same type of missile to target Daesh positions in Syria from the Caspian Sea.

On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military pull-out from Syria; however forces remain at the Hmeymim airbase in Latakia and at the Tartus naval base to help maintain a Moscow-Washington brokered ceasefire.

*A Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft lands at an airbase in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on March 16, 2016. (AFP)*

Meanwhile, the Russian center for reconciling warring parties in Syria announced that over 60 Daesh terrorists have been killed in a series of Russia airstrikes in the in the central province of Homs.

"The Russian Aerospace Forces performed 23 nighttime sorties against 54 Daesh terrorists' positions… [They] destroyed four command and control stations, six artillery weapons and mortars, three ammunition depots, two fuel storage facilities, 18 off-road vehicles with armament, one anti-aircraft mount and over 60 militants," read a statement published on the Russian Defense Ministry's website.

Russia started its military campaign in Syria on September 30, 2015, based on a request from the Syrian government.

The airstrikes have greatly boosted the morale of the Syrian army as it has managed to retake key areas from militants across the country with Russia's support.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

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