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A8 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 24 June 2017

Russia fires missiles from Mediterranean at IS in Syria

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA is “nearly 100 percent” cer-
Associated Press tain.
MOSCOW (AP) — Rus- “Russia would not want to
sia has fired cruise missiles be on the list of the coun-
from the Mediterranean tries that have said before
Sea on positions of the Is- that he was killed and then
lamic State group in Syria, al-Baghdadi would resur-
the Defense Ministry said rect,” Ozerov added.
on Friday, Moscow’s latest The whereabouts of the
show of strength in the con- shadowy al-Baghdadi, with
flict wracking the Mideast a $25 million U.S. bounty on
country. his head, have not been
The ministry said in a state- known. His last public ap-
ment that two frigates and pearance was almost three
a submarine launched six years ago in the Iraqi city of
cruise missiles on IS installa- Mosul, at the 12th century
tions in Syria’s Hama prov- al-Nuri Mosque from where
ince, destroying command he declared a “caliphate”
centers and ammunition in the territory that IS had
depots. It did not say when seized in Iraq and Syria in
the missiles were launched. July 2014.
Moscow has fired missiles That mosque, along with In this image provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service and released on Friday, June
23, 2017, long-range Kalibr cruise missiles are launched by a Russian Navy ship in the eastern
from the Mediterranean at its famous leaning mina- Mediterranean. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it fired cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea
militants’ positions in Syria ret, was destroyed on on positions of the Islamic State in Syria.
before, including launches Wednesday night, blown Associated Press
from a submarine and a up by IS militants as their
frigate in May at the tar- control of Mosul increas-
gets in the area of the an- ingly is slipping away. The
cient city of Palmyra. mosque would have been
Russia is one of the stron- a symbolic prize for Iraqi
gest backers of Syrian forces and the U.S.-led co-
President Bashar Assad’s alition in the fight for Iraq’s
government and has been second-largest city. Mean-
carrying airstrikes in the while, Turkish President
country since September Recep Tayyip Erdogan
2015. warned that his country
Separately on Friday, a se- would launch a new incur-
nior Russian lawmaker said sion into northern Syria to
Moscow is “nearly 100 per- counter any threats from
cent” sure that the IS top U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish
leader was killed in a Rus- fighters who are engaged
sian airstrike last month. in a battle to capture the IS
The Defense Ministry first stronghold of Raqqa.
made the claim last week, Turkey says Syrian Kurdish
saying that Abu Bakr al- fighters are an extension of
Baghdadi’s death in the an insurgent Kurdish terror
May 28 strike on the out- group operating in Turkey.
skirts of the Syrian city of Ankara is angered by a
Raqqa was still “being veri- U.S. decision to launch the
fied through various chan- Raqqa offensive in partner-
nels.” ship with the Kurdish-led
Viktor Ozerov, head of Syrian Democratic Forces.
the defense and security It has warned against Syr-
committee at the upper ian Kurdish groups becom-
chamber of the Russian ing entrenched in the re-
parliament, told the Inter- gion. “If the developments
fax news agency on Friday in Syria pose a threat, if
that Russia’s intelligence we’re faced with such an
about al-Baghdadi’s death event.q