Russia in Syria- Jets Hit ISIS Compund near Aleppo with precision Ammuni...

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Russia in Syria- Jets Hit ISIS Compund near Aleppo with precision Ammunition.



Serving or former Russian soldiers have been geolocated in Syria, bloggers have said today, suggesting the Kremlin's operation stretches well beyond it's air campaign.



The Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), a group of Russian investigative bloggers, used social media to locate serving or ex-soldiers in the country.



CIT's investigation seems to provide further proof of a Russian ground presence after images from social media accounts appearing to show military personnel in locations across Syria were revealed in September.

Meanwhile, the US-led air campaign against Islamic State militants, which ground to a near halt in late October, has intensified, with 56 strikes carried out from October 30 to November 6, focussing on the towns of Mar'a, al Hawl, al Hasakah and Dayr az Zawr.



Russia first launched air strikes to support President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's four-year civil war on September 30, but has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of mounting a ground operation.



It has instead said it will limit its help to military trainers, advisers and deliveries of military equipment.



US security officials and independent experts last week said Moscow had increased its forces in Syria to 4,000 personnel from an estimated 2,000.



A US defence official said multiple rocket-launcher crews and long-range artillery batteries were deployed outside four bases the Russians were using.

Sunday's report by CIT said social media had been used to geolocate three Russian serving or former soldiers in Syria.



Russia's military jets are based in Latakia in western Syria, far from where the three men were geolocated, which included locations near Hama, Aleppo and Homs.



'Although we still don't have indisputable evidence of Russian servicemen taking a direct part in the fighting on the ground in Syria, we believe the situation observed contradicts the claims of Russian officials that Russian troops are not taking part and are not planning to take part in ground operations,' CIT said.



The bloggers published screenshots from a social media account apparently belonging to Ayas Saryg-Ool, a soldier it said served in Russia's 74th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, and from an account appearing to belong to Vladimir Boldyrev, who it suggested was a Russian marine from the 810th Separate Marine Brigade.



It showed both of them had recently posted pictures with geolocation tags in Hama Province.