DAMASCUS, SYRIA-- Russia and Syria carried out what appeared to be the first major coordinated attacks on Syrian insurgents on Wednesday, targeting rebels in the west rather than Islamic State, a monitor said.
The combined assault hit towns near the main north-south highway that goes through major cities in the mainly government-held west of Syria, said British-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Ground assaults by Syrian government forces and their allies used surface-to-surface missile bombardments and hit at least four insurgent positions, Observatory head Rami Abdulrahman said.
Russia says it shares the West's goal of preventing the spread of Islamic State militants, but fighters on the ground and Western nations have said Russia has mainly hit rebel groups that have seized government-held areas in western Syria.
Syrian state television said government forces had targeted militants at the Sha'ar gas field and village of Qaryatain in Homs province, as well as Atshan in Hama province.
According to an opposition group, Russia and Syria launched coordinated attacks on Islamist factions in numerous towns in Hama and Idlib provinces, with Syrian shelling and Russian airstrikes.
Wednesday/s airstrikes were carried out by Russian fighter jets and attack helicopters, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Four Russian warships in the Caspian Sea launched 26 cruise missiles at Islamic State in Syria which hit 11 targets, Russia?s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and President Vladimir Putin said in a joint television announcement on Wednesday. The missiles traveled over 1,500 km before reaching their targets.
The missile strikes marked the first naval attacks in Russia's week-old military intervention in Syria?s multi-faction civil war.
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