Russian airstrikes in Syria


 * ''See also Russian deployment in Syria

In September 2015 Russia deployed a large contingent of air and land forces to Syria. On September 30 Russia launched airstrikes on ISIS, al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups, including ones created and supported by the US. The move came as a surprise to US officials and has been criticized by US proxy groups, including the White Helmets.

As of October 2, 2015 the Russian strike force consists of over 50 aircraft, including twelve Su-24s, twelve Su-25s, four Su-30s, six Su-34s and a number of helicopters.

The Russian defense minister announced on October 7, Putin's birthday, that four ships in the Caspian sea had fired 26 cruise missiles at 11 targets in Syria. Peskov: 'Successful launch was made possible due to the work of coordination center in Baghdad.' The center was formed by Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Missiles path was via Iran and Iraq -TASS quoting Peskov. Russian MOD released a video. Strike was said to be against IS targets. Some reports mention that Syrian army went on an attack at the same time.

Map

 * Russian airstrikes in Syria by @Radicalenzyme
 * ''Interactive map of Russian airstrikes in Syria. Map will be continually updated. Twitter.com/Radicalenzyme

Video

 * Новейшие бомбардировщики СУ-34 вернулись с боевого задания в Сирии - Новости, Oct 1, 2015
 * Воздушная операция российской авиации в Сирийской Арабской Республике - Russian MoD playlist on YouTube
 * Russia deploy Air Force in Syria - Ruptly TV playlist on YouTube
 * Russia bombs CIA rebels - ACLOS playlist on YouTube

Targeting CIA-sponsored rebels

 * Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say - Adam Entous, The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2015
 * Western-backed Syrian rebel group says hit by Russian air strikes - Dasha Afanasieva, Reuters, Sep 30, 2015
 * ''"The northern countryside of Hama has no presence of ISIS at all and is under the control of the Free Syrian Army," Major Jamil al-Saleh, who defected from the Syrian army in 2012, told Reuters via Skype.
 * ''Saleh said his group had been supplied with advanced anti-tank missiles by foreign powers opposed to Assad.
 * ''"In the early morning this aircraft conducted air strikes in Latamneh city. One targeted a civilian area, and the other targeted al-Izza," Saleh said, referring to his group which he said were set up around two years ago and has 1,500 fighters.
 * With One Bombing Run Russia Gets the US to Acknowledge CIA’s “Covert” Regime Change Forces - emptywheel, October 1, 2015
 * US, Russia To Deconflict in Syria. According to TASS version, American position was that military activity should be focused on ISIS; and that Russian strikes were not in ISIS stronghold areas; but Pentagon has 'no information' that strikes against pro-American/Western rebels already occurred. (According to Syrian and Russian sources, strikes may be supporting planned Syrian army advance in Hama province).
 * Russian Airstrikes in Syria Targeted 'NATO Created Mercenaries' - Sputnik, October 1, 2015 (The headline kind of says it all.)
 * Russia Carries Out Airstrikes in Syria for 2nd Day - ANNE BARNARD and ANDREW E. KRAMER, The New York Times, October 1, 2015
 * ''The new round of strikes on Thursday — conducted with two models of Soviet-era warplanes, the Su-25 Frogfoot and Su-24 Fencer — was said by Mayadeen, a pro-Damascus news channel, to target the Army of Conquest, a coalition of insurgent groups that include the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, the hard-line Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham and a range of less extreme Islamist groups — all of which oppose the Islamic State.
 * Correction: ''Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to Sergey V. Lavrov. He is the Russian foreign minister, not, of course, the Soviet one (since the Soviet Union ceased to exist long ago).
 * Russia bombs CIA-trained Syrian rebels - Reuters, October 2, 2015
 * ''Hassan Haj Ali, head of the Liwa Suqour al-Jabal rebel group that is part of the Free Syrian Army, told Reuters one of the targets was his group's base in Idlib province, struck by about 20 missiles in two separate raids. His fighters had been trained by the CIA in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, part of a program Washington says is aimed at supporting groups that oppose both Islamic State and Assad.
 * ''"Russia is challenging everyone and saying there is no alternative to Bashar," Haj Ali said. He said the Russian jets had been identified by members of his group who once served as Syrian air force pilots.
 * ''The group is one of at least three foreign-backed FSA rebel factions to say they had been hit by the Russians in the last two days.
 * 'Russia kills US-backed Syrian rebels in second day of air strikes as Iran prepares for ground offensive' - Raziye Akkoc, and Roland Oliphant, The Telegraph, 02 October 2, 2015
 * U.S. assessment on Russia in Syria: A 'strategic blunder' - Elise Labott, CNN, October 2, 2015
 * ''And while U.S. officials have no plans to cede Russia any ground, they also said it appears that Russian President Vladimir Putin made a dramatic chess move that the Russians have not thought through -- one official even called it a "strategic blunder." Had the Russians been clear that they are providing support in Syria to prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime's collapse -- a scenario that would benefit ISIS -- they might have gotten some credit on the world stage. But their very first strikes in the region hit CIA-backed anti-Assad rebel forces, Arizona Republican John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday on CNN's "New Day."
 * "They're Hopping Mad In The US And Saudi Arabia": Russian Strikes In Syria Spark Epic Western Media Propaganda Blitz - ZeroHedge, October 2, 2015
 * By Bombing Terrorists in Syria Russia Hits Washington's Raw Nerve - Sputnik, October 2, 2015
 * ''Russia is undoubtedly bombing insurgents supported by the US, but that is only because Washington has intentionally supported Al Qaeda and ISIL in Syria, geopolitical researcher Tony Cartalucci remarks.
 * U.S. Concludes Russia Targeting CIA-Backed Rebels in Syria - Adam Entous, The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2015
 * ''U.S. officials say they now believe the Russians have been directly targeting CIA-backed rebel groups that pose the most direct threat to Mr. Assad since the campaign began on Wednesday, both to firm up regime positions and to send a message to Mr. Obama’s administration.
 * Russian warplanes in Syria destroy U.S.-trained rebels' weapons depots: commander - Reuters, October 7, 2015
 * ''The Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, whose fighters have attended military training organized by the Central Intelligence Agency in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, was also hit last week by Russian raids as Moscow began its air campaign in support of Damascus.
 * ''New strikes targeted the group's main weapons depots in western Aleppo province and completely destroyed them late on Tuesday, its commander Hassan Haj Ali told Reuters on Wednesday via an Internet messaging service.

Facebook bans Russian MoD videos
Facebook has applied a form of soft censorship to select Russian MoD combat videos on YouTube. The link does not render properly: no image, no tile. This is a technique Facebook sometimes does to suppress unwanted content. Other MoD videos are rendered normally.

The banned videos all seem to be related to strikes on CIA "assets" in Syria, particularly airstrike on a CIA / FSA arms depots in the Jisr al-Shughur district. This may be an indication that a a US citizen died in the Russian airstrike shown.


 * Banned videos
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d53AuCscDo (Su-24M bomber hits an ammunition depot in the mountain area in the district of Jisr al-Shughur)
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1u3hKNdh5A
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MrY67uRXo
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP4b47LaBJE
 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBEkjj9PL5I

The ban has even been extended to this Moon of Alabama article on the strikes.
 * M of A - Syria, Iraq: Russia Shows Its Cards And Wins - October 07, 2015

Ltamenah cave compound
Tajamu Ala'azza" HQ in Ltamenah (location, map)
 * إستهداف أحد المقرات (Targeting a headquarters) - تجمع العزة, Sep 30, 2015 (YouTube account deleted, mirror, mirror, on the wall)
 * Russian Su-24 bombers hit the 1st Coastal Division (Forqat al-Awwal As-Sahli), a US sponsored "moderate rebel" group. The target is an underground bunker with ventilation shafts. See video @1:24 -- Also note cave entrance at 0:30.
 * الطيران الروسي يقصف مواقع للجيش الحر في ريف حماة بحسب مايؤكده الرائد جميل الصالح (Russian aviation bombed FSA sites in Hama, according to Maj. Jamil Saleh Maaakdh) - Mahmoud al-Hamwi, Sep 30, 2015
 * Воздушные удары по объектам террористической группировки ИГИЛ (Air strikes against targets of the terrorist group ISIL) - Russian Defence Ministry
 * Combat Cam: Russian jets target ISIS command center in Raqqa - Moscow MoD Oct 3, 2015 (RT says this is Raqqa, but this is the same cave hit again with more precision.)
 * Bellingcat accuses Russia of faking videos showing jets dropping bombs on ISIS - RT, October 8, 2015
 * ''However, Bellingcat is claiming that the location bombed on October 3 was not the ISIS stronghold, but rather the town of Al-Latamneh, which is over 150 kilometers away in territory not under the control of the terrorist organization. They also say that local groups have their own videos shot on the ground proving it.

3-level headquarters

 * First struck at daytime on September 30. See MoD video at 0:27
 * Struck again at nighttime on the morning of October 1. The first strike was not very accurate, as seen by the craters left on the field. See MoD video at start

Mountain Hawks Brigade training camp

 * Video shows Russian air raids affect the "MODERATE OPPOSITION" factions in the province of Idlib - Eldorar Alshamia, October 1, 2015
 * Video: عدسة الدرر الشامية ترصد الغارات الروسية على تجمع صقور الجبل بريف إدلب (Levantine Pearls reports on Russian raids on the Mountain Hawks Brigade Brive in Idlib) - October 1, 2015
 * Video: لواء صقور الجبل الغارة الجوية على معسكر التدريب (Brigade Hawks mountain air raid on a training camp) - October 1, 2015
 * This is from the Mountain Hawks' own YouTube channel They call it a "training camp". (part 2)

Raqqa mountain bunker
"Su-34 bombers destroyed an ISIS hardened command centre near Raqqah using a concrete-piercing bomb BETAB-500. The direct hit of the aerial weapon at the mountain facility caused detonation of explosives and multiple fires which completely destroyed the object"-Russian MoD video. (Follows earlier US criticism for using dumb bombs and targeting non-ISIS areas).


 * Russia’s Secret War on the CIA in Syria - Gordon Duff, VT, October 2, 2015
 * ''Today’s Russian attack on a command post killed very few al Qaeda leaders. What it did do is kill Turkish, Saudi and Qatari officers, over a dozen, maybe more, according to Syrian reconnaissance units in the area.
 * ''The command post was hit by SU34 aircraft dropping conventional bunker buster munitions. The post, built by Turkish engineers back in 2013, under up to 40 feet of bedrock, 3 stories deep and capable of supporting up to 300 foreign fighters and their Turkish commanders.

Aleppo
5.10.2015, tvzvezda.ru: Russian Su-34 destroyed headquarters and a control point of the "IS" militants in the vicinity of Dayr Hafir and Al-Bab in the Syrian province of Aleppo.

Mountain Hawks HQ in Aleppo

 * لواء صقور الجبل قطاع حلب كلمة قائد اللواء على استهداف مقرات الصقور من قبل الطيران الروسي وتنظيم داعش (Brigade Mountain Hawks sector Aleppo word brigade commander on targeting the headquarters of the hawks by the Russian Aviation and organize Daash) - Oct 7, 2015
 * Speaker says: Russia destroyed our weapon stores, our heavy vehicles, tanks ,BMPs, guns, weapons are burning now! ... We don't need weapons, we will fight with swords!
 * كلمة النقيب حسن حاج علي قائد لواء صقور الجبل ||إن كان دفاعنا عن ارضنا أأرهابا فنحنا أرهابيين (The word Captain Hassan Haj Ali brigade commander Mountain Hawks || if the defense of our land Oorhaba Venhna terrorists) - Oct 7, 2015
 * Shows burnt out building from the inside.
 * Russian warplanes in Syria destroy U.S.-trained rebels' weapons depots: commander - Reuters, October 7, 2015
 * ''The Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, whose fighters have attended military training organized by the Central Intelligence Agency in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, was also hit last week by Russian raids as Moscow began its air campaign in support of Damascus.
 * ''New strikes targeted the group's main weapons depots in western Aleppo province and completely destroyed them late on Tuesday, its commander Hassan Haj Ali told Reuters on Wednesday via an Internet messaging service.
 * ''Ali said he believed the Russians were targeting his group because it was one of the bigger and stronger factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army with support from "Arab and foreign countries".
 * ''"These were considered the principal depots of the Liwa," he told Reuters.
 * Russian MoD video: Нанесение авиаударов в провинциях РАККА и АЛЕППО (The application of air strikes in the provinces of Raqqa and Aleppo) - Oct 9, 2015
 * May show same headquarters.
 * Video: عدسة ناشط لحظة إلقاء الطيران الروسي ستة قنابل فراغية على خان العسل في ريف حلب الغربي 2015/10/06 (Lens to take a moment of the Russian Aviation six vacuum bombs on Khan honey activist in the countryside west of Aleppo 06/10/2015)
 * Su-24 "dive bomber" drops six bombs.
 * Video: الدخان المتصاعد عقب قصف الطائرات الروسية بلدة عندان بريف حلب الشمالي (Smoke rising after Russian planes bombed the town of Brive anadan northern Aleppo) - Oct 7, 2015

October 4

 * Russian Aviation Hits ISIL Training Center, Munition Depot Near Al-Tabqa - Sputnik

Jisr al-Shugur area

 * Russian air grouping attacks IS ten facilities — defence ministry - TASS, October 4, 2015
 * ''Su-24M and Su-34 bombers attacked eight facilities in Jisr ash-Shugur, destroying three ammunition dumps, where the ammo detonated as it was hit by a KAB-500 air bomb.
 * Video: Russian MoD, October 4, 2015
 * Нанесение удара с применением корректируемых авиабомб по командным пунктам ИГИЛ (This video is targeted by Facebook soft censorship.)
 * ''Using guided aviation bombs, the jets destroyed four command posts of the ISIS armed groups located in Jisr al-Shugur area. The facilities with terrorists are completely destroyed.
 * Нанесение удара по командному пункту террористов ИГИЛ, расположенному в горной местности
 * Нанесение удара по командному пункту и складу боеприпасов террористов ИГИЛ
 * ''Strikes against command post and munition depot of the ISIS terrorists located in the mountainous area 13 km west of the town of Jisr al-Shughur. As a result, the impact of aviation is visible detonation, ammunition and caused a fire. The object is destroyed.
 * Точный удар авиабомбой в склад боеприпасов террористов, расположенный в районе ДЖИСР-ЭШ- ШУГУР
 * ''High-accurate engagement of the munition depot located in Jisr al-Shugur. As a result of a direct hit on target there is a detonation of ammunition. KAB-500 aviation bombs detonated the munition and armament. There are several areas of fire.
 * These are not ISIS ammunition dumps, but most likely "FSA" weapons distribution points somewhere near the Turkish border. Most likely CIA employees, including US citizens where nearby.
 * Note, that FSA has long ago ceased to be an army. It now serves as a trademark for the US / CIA weapons supply chain. -- Petri Krohn (talk) 17:02, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

October 14
SANA reports "Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that Russian air force struck 40 sites for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the countryside of Aleppo, Idleb, Lattakia, Hama and Deir Ezzor in the past 24 hours." Targets include a vehicle armorin facility, a bomb workshop, a training camp, a couple of headquarters, and "workshops near Aleppo used by terrorists to make explosive devices for suicide bombers."

BM-30 Smerch

 * Video: لحظة إطلاق الصواريح العنقودية ولحظة سقوطها على كفرزيتا بريف حماة 7 10 2015 (The moment of firing cluster Alsoarih and the moment hit Kafr Zita in Hama countryside 7 10 2015) - Oct 7, 2015
 * Video: لحظة استهداف ريف ادلب الجنوبي بالصواريخ العنقودية (Southern countryside of Idlib is hit by cluster rockets) - Oct 8, 2015
 * Video: الصواريخ العنقودية المحرمة دولياُ والتي قصف النظام السوري بها مخيم عابدين بريف إدلب الجنوبي (Internationally banned cluster rockets, which the Syrian regime by bombing Abdeen camp in Idlib Southern countryside) - Oct 9, 2015
 * Video: تمهيد ناري كثيف براجمات TOS-1A bm-27 uragan على بلدة سكيك شمال حماة الخاضعة تحت سيطرة جبهة النصرة (Pave the heavy fire Braszmat TOS-1A BM-27 Uragan Skaik on the town of Hama, north of the area controlled by Al-Nusra Front) - Oct 10, 2015
 * TOS-1A in the title? TOS-1A is a heavy flamethrower 'Solntsepek', similar to 'Buratino', -incendiary or thermobaric warheads. There was a report on rusvesna quoting Syrian sources that it is arriving there... -RS

Rebel allegations

 * Syrian rebels say Russia targets them rather than Islamic State - Anne Barnard, The New York Times, September 30, 2015 (mirror)
 * ''“They are the most violent strikes,” says a man filming the grim aftermath of what he asserts was a Russian air attack on the town of Talbiseh, in the Homs province of Syria. “This is the Russian criminal regime.”


 * Russian fighter jet SU-25 shot down by Syrian rebels in Hama - Murad Gamzayev, Oct 1, 2015
 * Video at 21s shows maybe a ground-to-air missile exploding and a pilot ejecting.

Civilians killed

 * September 30: Russia's first day of bombing, opposition sources claim, took the lives of at least 17 civilians in Homs province alone, in the Talbisah area, per HRW Oct. 9 report. The VDC lists 43 civilians from Homs killed in the day's Russian strikes. One, however, is a rebel commander (see below).


 * قتيلان في ثلاث غارات للطيران الروسي على كفرعويد بجبل الزاوية (Two killed in three raids on Russian aviation Kafr Owaid, Jabal Zawiya) - SMART News Agency, October 6, 2015
 * ''Two civilians were killed this morning, after three raids of Russian aviation targeted the village Kafr Owaid, Jabal Zawiya, in the countryside of Idlib, as long a similar bombing villages Kncefrh and Hilum.


 * October 15, alleged Russian strike kills 70 civilians, half of them women and children, again in the Ter Maala-Ghanto-Talbisah area of Homs. Syria blames Jabhat al-Nusra for a deliberate massacre to frame them. Special coverage: Ter Maala Massacre

No Rebels Killed?
By some sources at least, it seems, Russia's first air strikes not only failed to kill ISIS/Daesh or even al-Nusra terrorists, but failed to kill any fighters at all, CIA-backed or otherwise. The VDC has 89 martyrs as of October 11 killed by warplane shelling with "Russia" in the notes, mainly saying "Killed due to airstrikes by Russian forces inside Syria territory." All but one so far are listed as civilians (but at least one commanded a rebel fighting unit). By day:


 * September 30: 43 civilians, all of them from Homs, killed on Sept. 30, all listed as civilian. 27 adult males, 7 boys, 7 women, 2 girls, with nearly all females hailing from nearby Zafarana. This pattern is familiar; it's just how VDC lists Syrian government air strikes. Some families were hard-hit; Latouf, Jouma, Tawel, and two similar names; 2 named Dheak, which seems different from the name al-Deek on 2 others, one being a prominent rebel fighter perhaps working with ISIS (see below) but here listed as civilian. How many others are listed wrong is unclear.


 * October 3 11 civilians in Idlib province (8 men, 3 women, no children)
 * October 6 15 civilians killed in Palmyra, Homs - all adult males, all unidentified. Russia has denied bombing Palmyra at all.
 * October 7 13 civilians in Idlib (4 men, 2 women, a boy and a girl) and Aleppo (2 women, a boy and a girl) and finally one listed rebel fighter, from Idlib.
 * October 10 5 unidentified civilian men from somewhere in Aleppo province

Talbisah

 * ''As claimed by rebels

AP, September 30: Syrian Group Says Russian Strikes Killed 36 (civilians)
 * The Syrian National Council opposition group says Russian airstrikes north of Homs city killed 36 civilians, including five children and one member of the civil defense units known as the White Helmets.


 * Khaled Khoja, leader of the group, says at a press conference at the United Nations Wednesday that the strikes also hit a base for the Free Syrian Army but resulted in no casualties. He said there are no Islamic State group forces in the four areas struck Wednesday.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin denies the killing of civilians, calls the charge part of the informationwarRT). Strikes in the Talbisah area were not denied.

The Radicalenzyme map places 4 strikes in Talbisah and Rastan to the north on September 30 and one nearby to the south the following day. One September 30 impact is labeled "Russian jets reportedly hit the bread distribution depot which also served as the HQ of the Local civilian council.  According to the local field hospital all the dead where civilians. Reports of 11 killed and 20 wounded." Another just north of it says "Iyad Deek commander of Homs Liberation Movement was killed by a Russian air strike."

Video: ("paneling" = Talbisah)
 * تلبيسة لحظة استهداف المدينة بالصوراخ الفراغية من الطيران الروسي 30 9 2015 (Paneling moment the city targeting Balsourakh stereochemistry of the Russian Aviation 30 9 2015) - Talbisah News, September 30, 2015
 * تلبيسة صلاة الجنازة على بعض شهداء مجزرة الطيران الروسي 30 9 2015 (Paneling funeral prayers for the martyrs of the massacre of some Russian Aviation 30 9 2015)
 * #شبكة_تلبيسة_مباشر(High explosive raids by Russian warplanes targeted residential neighborhoods in the city of paneling] uploaded by Diaa al-Homsi 30 September, 2015 (smoke plumes - connected to alleged bread center strike)
 * تلبيسة لحظة الوصول لمكان سقوط الصواريخ الفراغية 30 9 2015 (Paneling instant access to the place of the fall of the spatial rockets 30 92 015) uploaded September 30, 2015 by talbisa h (damage and rescue efforts - connected to alleged bread center strike)

Iyad Deek and ISIS in Rastan
Iyad Qasem al-Deek ( أياد قاسم الديك ) was "a prominent rebel leader in north Homs province," a Captain in the Syrian military "who defected in the uprising." (National Post) He came to lead a "Khalid ibn al-Walid Battalion" in Rastan, near al-Houla, by early 2012; A video (now pulled) showed ‏@SeekerSK 5 Feb 2012 ''Lieutenant Iyad Al Deek announces the liberation of Rastan in a complete manner #Syria. But some follow-up ensued; http://youtu.be/UlK3XyZDUnQ In mid-May the battalion took over some army base, destroying at least one T-54 tanks and one BMP type infantry fighting vehicle.
 * بيان النقيب اياد الديك للتصدي لهجوم الجيش 14/5/2012 (Captain Iyad al-Deek statement to counter attack the army 05/14/2012) - homs alrastan, May 14, 2012

He was reportedly killed in one of the Russian strikes in this area on September 30.@Abduhark Sep 30: "FSA Captain Iyad al-Deek was killed in the Russian air strikes in north Homs." The Radicalenzyme map says (based on unclear sources) that Deek was "commander of Homs Liberation Movement" when Russian bombs killed him on the 30th. Their site, Homs-l-m.com, published a statement on Sept. 30 (Arabic) also claiming the commander's death from Russian aerial attack.

In between, less is known aside from, as as Yallasouriya noted on January 10, 2014
 * '' #ISIS have kidnapped Captain Iyad al-Deek commander of Khalid ibn al-Walid Battalion #Rastan #Homs

Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com puts these together and now writes:
 * Free Syrian Army commander is reported killed by a Russian air strike, and yet it appears that very same commander was kidnapped by ISIS last year.

It's not clear if he was simply released, agreed to cooperate, or what. Unverified sources say Russia has him under the ISIS umbrella. "According to Konashenkov, Wednesday's airstrikes - which, he said, had been ordered directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin - had targeted Daesh munitions depots, vehicles and communications centers. A division of the Islamic State, Iyad-Al-Deek terrorist group, has lost its leader." (see here) (see also here)

Deek's VDC entry - he was killed alongside a boy relative (no age given). Iyad has notes "Killed due to airstrikes by Russian forces inside Syria territory." No rank specified (FSA, ISIS, etc.) In fact, he's listed as a civilian.

There are at least 3 alleged points in support of an ISIS presence in Rastan, although it's not otherwise known of:
 * 1) As FAIR reports, AFP reported Sept. 21 (nine days before the strike)
 * "The Islamic State jihadist group executed nine men and a boy it accused of being gay in central and northern Syria on Monday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists shot dead seven men in Rastan, a town in Homs province of central Syria, “after accusing them of being homosexual.” (photo not connected)


 * 1) 2 ISIS managed to abduct capt. Deek, presumably in or near Rastan.
 * 2) 3 Tentative claims Deek was an agent of ISIS after that, perhaps bolstered by their ability to execute people there so recently.

Ground forces?

 * 30.9.15 Authorization by Russian parliament was given at a closed meeting. Press reports stress that only aerial campaign is authorized, but not a ground force. (It is also stated, in the manner of justification, that over 2000 Russians and many ex-USSR fighters are participating in hostilities on the anti-government /IS side, and they pose danger returning home).
 * 2.10.15 Kadyrov offers to send a force to Syria if ordered by Putin.
 * 5.10.15 NY Times:"Kremlin Says Russian ‘Volunteer’ Forces Will Fight in Syria"
 * Syria Ground War Imminent? U.S. Accuses Russia Of Launching Syrian Land Campaign - ZeroHedge, October 5, 2015

Western reaction

 * Col. Jack Jacobs Syria Advice For Obama: "Shut Up," "We Don't Even Have A Strategy" - Squawk Box, October 1, 2015
 * Obama Accuses Russia of Going After America’s “Good Guy Terrorists” - Prof Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, October 1, 2015
 * Does Article II Authorize the U.S. Military to Defend CIA-Trained Syrian Forces against a Russian Attack? - Robert Chesney, Lawfare, October 1, 2015
 * ''"If Syrian government forces attack the Syrian fighters we have trained and equipped while they were engaging ISIL, the President would have the authority under Article II of the Constitution to defend those fighters," a senior administration official told Defense One.

Russia's objective?
Vladimir Putin interviewed by Vladimir Soloviev, TV channel 'Russia', 11.10.2015 transcript "...active phase of our work in Syria will be limited in time by the offensive operation period of the Syrian army itself. Our goal is to stabilize the legitimate authority and to create conditions to seek a political compromise"

Public reaction in Russia

 * Initial reaction: 72 % supported airstrikes against IS-- Levada Center poll (63 % would support such strikes by France). Yet about half feel that this may turn into another Afghanistan, so broader ground operation is out of favor.
 * Opposition channel Echo of Moscow reports that in their poll, 85 % of their listeners were against air strikes; in response to that, the channel comes up with some arguments in favor (of anti-ISIS sort).
 * Levada pollster writes a piece for Moscow Carnegie center, apparently based on some focus group discussions. He believes that support for strikes is based on anti-US, geopolitical agenda, as presented in the media, while the conflict itself, and its human dimension, is felt as rather remote.

Analysis

 * Russian Military Intervention in Syria - Gordon M. Hahn, September 30, 2015
 * No ISIS Where Russia Is Bombing–Except Last Week, When ISIS Was Killing Gay Men There? - Jim Naureckas, FAIR, September 30, 2015
 * Putin Hijacks Obama’s War on ISIS - The Daily Beast, September 30, 2015
 * The Real Story Behind Putin’s Syria Strikes - POLITICO.COM
 * Ron Paul - Assad must go, Assad must stay? Ron Paul Liberty Report
 * Russia's First Reported Air Strikes in Syria Assist Regime with Targeting Broader Opposition - ISW, September 30, 2015
 * Two Scenarios for Russia’s Engagement Against ISIL in Syria - Sputnik, October 1, 2015
 * Russia's Air War in Syria: Its Organisation and Purpose - Daniel Fielding, Russia Insider, October 2, 2015