A still image taken from a video footage and released by Russia's Defence Ministry on September 22, 2017, shows a missile hitting a building which Defence Ministry said was an Islamic State target in Syria. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS TV
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian submarine fired cruise missiles at jihadi targets in Syria’s Idlib province on Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said, saying it had targeted Islamist militants who had tried to trap a group of Russian military policemen earlier in the week.
The strike, launched from the Mediterranean by Russia’s ‘Veliky Novgorod’ submarine, was part of a counter-offensive against a jihadi attack on government-held parts of northwest Syria near Hama on Tuesday.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday said 29 Russian military policemen had been surrounded by jihadis as a result of that attack and that Russia had been forced to break them out in a special operation backed by air power.
On Friday, it said in a statement it had fired Kalibr cruise missiles at the same jihadis from a distance of 300 kilometers (186.41 miles) striking command centers, armored vehicles and the bases of jihadis who had taken part in the original attack.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
