Members of the Russian Air Force in Syria write “For our people” and “For Paris” on bombs that are destined to fall on Daesh Takfiris in the war-torn country, to commemorate the Russian and French people who recently lost their lives in separate terrorist attacks.
In a new footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday, the Russian servicemen at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria's western city of Lattakia are shown writing the brief messages on the sides of the FAB-250-M62 high explosive bombs hanging from the ports of a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 as the warplane was prepped for another round of sorties against the terror group.
The messages are presumably written in response to both last week's Paris attacks by Daesh in which 132 people were killed and some 350 others sustained injuries, and to the deadly bombing of a Russian Airbus A321 over the Sinai Peninsula that claimed the lives of all its 224 passengers and crew.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that 18 cruise missiles had been fired from both the Mediterranean and Caspian seas against Daesh positions in Syria’s Raqqah, Idlib and Aleppo provinces, killing only “600 militants” in the Daesh-controlled city of Deir ez-Zor.
According to Shoygu, there are 10 warships taking part in the operation, four of which are in the Caspian Sea.
He added that over the past four days, the Russian Air Force had launched 522 sorties, deploying more than 100 cruise missiles and 1,400 tons of bombs of various types, stressing that the number of aircraft taking part in the operations has been doubled with 69 warplanes carrying out 143 strikes on a daily basis.
The Russian defense minister further noted that the Russian anti-terror campaign in Syria also targeted the economic base of Daesh.
“We stopped supplies of 60,000 tons of oil per day to the black market and terrorists are losing $1.5 million daily,” he said.
Russia began its airstrikes against Daesh and other terrorists in Syria on September 30 at the request of the Damascus government. Moscow says the campaign is aimed at helping the Syrian army in its anti-terror fight and also preventing the return of more than 2,000 Russian nationals who have joined Daesh ranks in Syria.