Russia Says Airtrikes Hit Syria's Al-Qaeda Affiliate

Russia said Wednesday it had conducted airstrikes targeting 118 Syrian sites used by militant groups including the Islamic State group and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate.

The targets included an al-Nusra Front command post in Latakia province, according to defense spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov.

"After more reconnaissance, the Su-24M bombers delivered a strike completely destroying the facility," Konashenkov said, according to Russian state media.

The site included a major ammunition dump and strategic communication hub for the militant group, the military stated.

At least one other major al-Nusra site was bombed, Russia claimed.

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Russia began airstrikes against militant groups in Syria in September at the request of the Syrian government.

Critics of Russia’s air campaign, including the United States, have argued its strikes are largely targeting rebels that pose a threat to its ally, Bashar al-Assad, rather than the Islamic State group.

A New York Times October 12 article mapped Russian airstrikes as being centered around a region of Syria's northwest listed by the newspaper as under “rebel” control. That area is dominated by Jaish al-Fatah, a rebel coalition that includes al-Nusra.

Al-Nusra has arisen to become one of the largest rebel groups in Syria's civil war. The war has left over 250,000 people dead, with more than 4 million people fleeing the country since 2011.

The United Nations said on Tuesday that, “By any measure, the situation in Syria has worsened since the beginning of the year.”

“Rising levels of fighting and violence over the last few weeks have had an enormous humanitarian impact, resulting in large-scale death, injury and displacement to civilians, particularly in northern Syria,” said Stephen O'Brien, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.

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