Soaring above the skies of Syria, these are the Russian bombers dropping deadly bombs in the first missions to have taken off from Iran.
The Kremlin has deployed Tupolev-22 bombers to an air base in the Iranian city of Hamadan after Moscow and Tehran signed a military agreement for closer ties.
And today the Russian defense ministry confirmed that its aircraft had flew out of the Iranian base to launch strikes against jihadist groups in war-torn Syria.
A statement said: ‘On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets in Syria in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib.’
‘The bombing also targeted three command centers near the village of Jafra and Deir Ezzor, killing ‘a large number of fighters’, Moscow said.
Footage, believed to have been taken of the mission appeared to show several aircraft flying in the clouds, before one drops a large number of bombs over the ground below.

Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted.
Earlier this month, the defense ministers of allies Iran, Russia and Syria on held talks in Tehran on pressing the fight against opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Iran and Russia are the two firmest backers of the Assad regime and have opposed international calls for the Syrian leader to step down in a bid to resolve a civil war that has killed more than 290,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

Source: Mail online, Aug. 16, 2016