Russia done launching Syrian airstrikes from Iran

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Moscow had deployed Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 tactical bombers to Hamedan, which is located in western Iran.
Airstrikes launched from there hit targets belonging to ISIS and the Jabhat al-Nusra militant group in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib, Russia’s defense ministry said.
A “significant number of militants” were also thought to be killed, the ministry said.
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All Russian aircraft returned to their home airfields safely after a successful “combat mission,” the statement added.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry recently threatened a “Plan B” to increase arms to Syrian rebels if Russia and Assad did not change tactics and stop targeting moderate opposition groups supported by the US and its European and Arab partners.
And airstrikes have been taking the toll on war-torn cities like Aleppo — creating what CNN’s Clarissa Ward described as an “apocalyptic wasteland.” Hundreds of thousands of civilians were recently caught up in a siege of parts of Aleppo, preventing vital aid supplies from getting through.
In response, Moscow announced the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” in the city for three hours a day.
Meanwhile, the new commander of US forces in Iraq and Syria, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, warned Russia and Syria that he will defend US special operations forces in northern Syria if the Assad regime strikes areas where his troops are located.
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“We’ve informed the Russians where we’re at … (they) tell us they’ve informed the Syrians, and I’d just say that we will defend ourselves if we feel threatened,” Townsend told CNN’s Barbara Starr in a telephone interview Saturday from his Baghdad headquarters.