Russia fires cruise missiles, hits Daesh positions in Syria

MOSCOW: Russians warships in the Mediterranean Sea have fired four cruise missiles at the Daesh positions in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The announcement came as Syrian regime troops pushed ahead in their offensive against Daesh and militants in central and northern Syria.

Moscow said in a statement that the Admiral Essen frigate and the Krasnodar submarine-launched the missiles at Daesh targets in the area of the ancient town of Palmyra.

Syrian regime troops have been on the offensive for weeks in northern, central and southern part of the country against Daesh and US-backed fighters under the cover of Russian airstrikes, gaining an area almost half the size of neighboring Lebanon.

Most recently, Syrian troops and their allies have been marching toward the Daesh stronghold of Sukhna, 60 km from Palmyra.

The strategic juncture in the Syrian desert aids regime plans to go after Daesh in Deir Ez-Zor, one of the militants’ last major strongholds in Syria.

As the fighting against Daesh is underway near Palmyra, Syrian regime troops clashed with US-backed fighters in the country’s south on Wednesday, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Mozahem Al-Salloum, of the activist-run Hammurabi Justice News network that tracks developments in eastern Syria.