Eleven Islamic State targets in Syria were destroyed by cruise missiles fired from four Russian warships in the Caspian Sea, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday.
Russia launched 26 sea-based cruise missiles on targets in Syria that were approximately 932 miles away, Shoigu said, according to reports.
Russia has repeatedly asserted that all its attacks are targeted on the Islamic State, despite reports from the U.S. and its allies that some of its strikes have targeted the enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, Turkey has summoned Russia’s envoy to Ankara three times due to Russia’s violations of Turkey’s airspace, BBC reported. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has warned that the airspace violations risk a crisis with NATO, of which Turkey is a member. He said Wednesday there will be no concessions if Russian fighter jets violate Turkey’s airspace, reported the BBC.
Davutoglu also said that only two of Russia’s 57 sorties have targeted the Islamic State jihadis.
Referring to NATO’s collective defense doctrine, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that any “attack on Turkey means an attack on NATO,” the BBC reported.
“If Russia loses a friend like Turkey with whom it has a lot of cooperation it is going to lose a lot of things; it needs to know this,” Erdogan said Tuesday.
