Russian warplanes dropped bombs near the central city of Homs, APA reports quoting the New York Times. The attack came hours after Mr. Putin pushed a measure through the upper house of Parliament approving the use of Russian military forces abroad.
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Russian officials and analysts portrayed the move as an attempt both to fight Islamic State militants and to try to ensure the survival of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Russia’s main ally in the Middle East.
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Sergei B. Ivanov, Mr. Putin’s chief of staff, appealed to the upper house, the Federation Council, for the measure, describing it as an open-ended deployment of the Russian Air Force to support Mr. Assad — at his request — in his fight against the Islamic State.
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“We’re talking exclusively about operations of Russia’s Air Force, as our president has already said, the use of armed forces on the ground theater of military operations is excluded,†Mr. Ivanov said in remarks to a closed session of the council.Â
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