Six Tupolev Tu-22M3 long-range bombers took off from Russian territory on Wednesday and flew over Iran and Iraq to reach their intended targets, which included ISIS strongholds and depots storing arms and ammunition.
Russia’s defence ministry said the bombers “delivered a massive airstrike against terrorists’ facilities near the town of Abu Kamal in the province of Deir ez-Zor.
“The airstrike targeted militants’ strongholds and depots with arms and ammunition.
“The data registering equipment has registered the destruction of all the designated targets.”
The Tu-22M3 is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber and is a variant of the Tu-22M, but has substantially more power.
The airstrike comes just hours after Russia’s submarine The Veliki Novgorod, currently in the Mediterranean, launched Kalibr cruise missiles towards the ISIS stronghold in Syria.
A statement from the Russian defence ministry read: “On October 31, 2017 the submarine The Veliki Novgorod operating in the eastern Mediterranean, launched cruise missiles Kalibr from a surface position to hit crucial facilities of the Islamic State in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province.
“The three missiles wiped out command centres, a fortified stronghold and its manpower and armoured vehicles, and a large weapons depot near Abu Kamal.”
Earlier this week, Russia sent bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons to the Korean Peninsula.
The Russian Defence Ministry announced US and Japanese jets had escorted two of its missile-carrying Tupolev-95MS strategic bombers as they conducted flights over the Sea of Japan and the Pacific.
In a statement, Moscow’s defence ministry said: “Two strategic bombers Tupolev-95MS of Russia’s Aerospace Force have carried out routine flights over international waters of the Sea of Japan and the western part of the Pacific Ocean.
“At certain sections of the route the Tupolev-95MS crews were accompanied by a pair of F-18 fighters (of the US Air Force), and a pair of F-15, F-4 and F-2A fighters (of the Japanese Air Force).”
The Tu-95MS is an improved version of the older Tu-95, a Soviet-era four-engine, long-range, turboprop, strategic bomber that can be armed with a wide range of weapons including stand-off nuclear-capable cruise missiles.