Russia announced on Wednesday that one of its warships and a submarine in the Mediterranean Sea have fired cruise missiles at Islamic State (ISIS) targets near the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.
Moscow supports the embattled government in Syria and its President Bashar al-Assad. The Assad-backed regime has been engaged in a civil war with Islamist and militant rebels for almost six years now, resulting in loss of thousands of lives over the year.
The Russian Defence Ministry said that four cruise missiles had been fired at ISIS targets. Russian news agencies now claim that the strike was first of its kind since November 2016.
The strike on the militants was carried out by frigate Admiral Essen and submarine Krasnodar, and targeted terrorists and equipment in an area east of Palmyra.
"All targets were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the United States, Turkey and Israel were informed of the strikes before the missiles were launched.
The ministry did not provide other particulars of the strike like the time and day, however, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had personally told President Vladimir Putin about the military action late on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Turkish bloggers published some photographs on Wednesday for their online Bosphorus Naval News project, which showed a Russian Syria-bound ship passing through the Bosphorus carrying a consignment of military trucks.
Russia had previously launched a similar strike of cruise missiles from its ships in November 2016. The missiles were targeted to hit ISIS strongholds in Syria, according to RIA news agency.
