The Russian aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean is preparing to launch airstrikes against militants in Syria, according to Russian reports.
The Admiral Kuznetsov will launch the strikes “in the nearest hours” to target fighters on the outskirts of Aleppo and prevent them from entering the city, according to the Kremlin-backed news agency Russia Today.
The strikes will end a humanitarian pause on strikes in Aleppo that began on Oct. 18.
The Admiral Kuznetsov headed to the region late last month. The carrier has had its share of technical issues on previous deployments and is prone to frequent breakdowns.
“It pretty much always goes out with a tugboat,” said Dmitry Gorenburg, a senior research scientist at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. “On several of its most recent voyages, it’s had to put into port to have its boiler worked on.”
Some past issues include issues with its evaporators that left thousands of Russian sailors without fresh water and a fire onboard that killed one sailor.
Russian submarines in the vicinity could also launch cruise missiles as part of the operation.
