U.S., Russia, France take turns bombing ISIS targets after Paris terror attacks
Three of the world's major countries are taking turns bombing territories controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS), days after the extremist organisation claimed responsibility for the terror attacks in Paris, which killed over 120 people.
Russia deployed more long-range supersonic bombers to pound ISIS-controlled areas in Syria early Wednesday in broad daylight, Fox News quoted a senior defence official briefed on the latest intelligence from the region as saying.
The Russian government is now using huge bombers such as the Tu-22M Backfire and the Tu-160 Blackjack, which flew from airbases bases in Mozdok and Engels, to drop explosives over the ISIS' lair. The Tu-22M Backfire bomber can drop some 70 unguided 500-pound bombs in one go.
Engels is located near Kazakhstan, while Mozdok can be found in southern Russia, near Georgia and Azerbaijan.
According to a U.S. official, some of the Russian supersonic bombers launched cruise missiles against the ISIS from a position over Iran.
The U.S. military official also explained that the Russians have to drop bombs during the day because they need daylight to successfully hit ISIS targets, since they are using unguided or "dumb" bombs.
At night, it is the United States and France's turn to pound the jihadist organisation, which has praised and claimed responsibility for the Paris terror attacks.
"This is one of the reasons, why de-confliction is not really needed at this time. The Russians are bombing during the daytime, the [U.S.-led coalition] is bombing at night," a U.S. official monitoring the Russian strikes told Fox News.
Retired Air Force General David Deptula predicted that with the way things are going, the world's major powers can shut down the ISIS in a few weeks.
"You keep on hearing people including the president saying, 'This is going to take a long time.' It's only going to take a long time if you want it to take a long time. We have it within our capacity to shut down the effectiveness of the Islamic State in a very short period of time—in a matter of weeks and not years," Deptula said.
