Russia launched its first airstrike in Syria following a build up of its forces in the embattled country, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The airstrike was conducted around the city of Homs, said the official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The United States was given one hour's notice before the strike took place, the official said. The notice was sent in Baghdad, where the Russians have set up a coordination unit with Iraq’s government. A high-ranking Russian officer there notified a U.S. military official at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the U.S. official said.
It was not clear whether the target of the Russian airstrike was the Islamic State militant group or more moderate Syrian rebels combating the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the official said. The U.S. had not yet assessed the damages from the airstrike.
It was also not immediately apparent whether the attack signified the start of regular Russian airstrikes.
The development comes one day after the Pentagon announced it would begin talks with Russia about “deconflicting” operations in Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition is conducting daily airstrikes on Islamic State targets.
Both the U.S.and Russia view the Islamic State as a common enemy, but Russia supports Assad's regime as the most effective force battling the militant group, while the US. wants Assad to step aside because of atrocities it says he has committed against civilians to retain power during Syria's four-year-old civil war. The U.S. is backing Syrian rebel groups that have so far have proven ineffective against the Islamic State and Assad's forces.
“The purpose of these de-confliction discussions will be to ensure that ongoing coalition air operations are not interrupted by any future Russian military activity, to ensure the safety of coalition air crews and to avoid misjudgment and miscalculation,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday.
News of the Russian airstrike came after Russia's parliament granted President Vladimir Putin permission to launch airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria.
Speaking at a government meeting Wednesday, Putin said the only way to fight terrorists there is to act preemptively, Reuters reported.
He said Russia's military involvement would be temporary, and it is still possible and necessary to “unite international efforts to take on Islamist militants in Syria,”the news agency reported.
Sergey Ivanov, the Kremlin's chief of staff, told journalists that Putin was granted permission to use armed forces outside the country by the Federation Council — the upper house of the Russian parliament — the TASS news agency reported.
However, Ivanov said Russia will only use its air force Syria. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin later told reporters that Russia will supply “all the necessary armaments” to Syria, TASS reported.
Ivanov said the Federation Council "unanimously supported the president’s request" to use Russian forces in Syria, according to TASS. He added that Assad had asked Russia to provide military assistance. He said that the number of Russians joining the extremist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is growing.
"The operation’s military goal is exclusively air support of the Syrian armed forces in their fight against ISIL," he said, according to TASS.
"We are not pursing any foreign political goals or ambitions, of which we have been regularly accused. The point is just to defend Russia’s national interests."
On Tuesday, Putin said his country was considering whether to carry out airstrikes against the ISIL in Syria. His remarks came after a meeting with President Obama at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
According to the Russian constitution, Putin has to request parliamentary approval for the use of Russian troops abroad. The last time he did so was before Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014.
Prosecutors in Paris on Wednesday opened a preliminary investigation into allegations by the French government of crimes against humanity committed by the Assad regime. The probe focuses on atrocities allegedly committed between 2011 and 2013 and is based on photos of mutilated corpses, the Paris prosecutor’s statement said.
President Francois Hollande announced Sunday that France launched its first airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria, destroying one of the group’s training camps in a bombing raid.
