The United States believes that Russia has started carrying out air strikes in Syria in the vicinity of Homs, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that Moscow gave the United States a one-hour advanced notice of its operations.
The Russian Defense Ministry claims its planes destroyed an array of Islamic State targets, including command posts. But Syrian opposition groups accused Russia of targeting and killing dozens of civilians and non-IS rebels.
Almost as soon as the attacks began, critics questioned exactly who the Russian airstrikes were targeting. Many are worried those targets could include innocent civilians, as well as Western-backed Syrian rebels. But the Foreign Ministry’s chief spokeswoman quickly dismissed such suggestions, blaming Western and other media for spreading disinformation.
While most top officials, including Putin, have pitched the airstrikes as coming to the defense of a legitimate government under attack by terrorists, others see an even more epic fight.
The hugely influential Russian Orthodox Church, for example, called the intervention a “holy battle.”
“The fight with terrorism is a holy battle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world fighting it,” Vsevolod Chaplin, a prominent church spokesman, told local media.
It might seem like a curious endorsement, but the church actually enjoys close ties with the Kremlin and often lends its open political support.
Russia’s Defense Ministry released this video Wednesday, saying the footage shows its airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.