Russian Air Force in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin has endorsed a bill ratifying a protocol to the 2015 agreement between Moscow and Damascus regulating the deployment of the Russian Air Force in Syria for 49 years.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has said it is "highly likely" that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL), was eliminated in an airstrike carried out by the Russian Air Force in Syria earlier in May.

Russian intelligence found up to 12,000 tankers and trucks on the Turkish-Iraqi border,  reports the General Staff of Russia’s armed forces has reported. Russian Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy told journalists on Friday that the aerial imagery was made in the vicinity of Zakho, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan. There were 11,775 tankers and trucks on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border.

Yesterday, at around 9 a.m. in the morning, Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet right at the Syrian border. According to the Turkish Chief of Staff, the plane had violated Turkish air space "for five minutes, despite being warned 10 times." Russia said there was no violation and that Turkey had downed the plane while it was in Syrian airspace. 

Turkey?s border with Syria and its airspace has turned into a new stage for NATO and Russia to flex their muscles.

NATO?s chief accused Russia on Oct. 6 of deliberately violating Turkey?s airspace during bombing raids on Syria, amid fresh reports of confrontations in the region.