Russische Marine greift in Syrien ein – vom Kaspischen Meer aus

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(Crosspost – wg. technischer Probleme am 7.10 hier veröffentlicht; dort auch Kommentare dazu)

Ob es aus militärischer Sicht sinnvoll und erfolgreich war, wird sich noch zeigen, aber erst einmal ist es eine Demonstration militärischer Fähigkeit: Die russische Marine beteiligt sich an den Angriffen auf (Rebellen)Stellungen in Syrien – vom Kaspischen Meer aus, also über eine Entfernung von mehr als 1.000 Kilometern:

Four Russian Navy warships have fired a total of 26 missiles at the position of the terrorist group Islamic State in Syria, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced. The missiles were fired from the Caspian Sea.

“Four missile ships launched 26 cruise missiles at 11 targets. According to objective control data, all the targets were destroyed. No civilian objects sustained damage,” Shoigu said.
(…)
The missile attacks came from Russia’s fleet in the Caspian Sea, which borders Russia, Iran and three other littoral countries.

berichtet der russische Sender RT.

Damit greift Russland auf eine Weise in einen Konflikt ein, der bislang nur von den USA bekannt war: Immer wieder haben US-Kriegsschiffe aus internationalen Gewässern Marschflugkörper über große Distanzen ins Ziel gebracht.

Bei ihrem Weg nach Syrien mussten die russischen Marschflugkörper, vermutlich abgefeuert von einer Korvette der Kaspischen Flotte, den Luftraum des Iran und des Irak durchqueren. Das dürfte die Zustimmung dieser Länder voraussetzen.

Vor kurzem gab es bereits Berichte über die neuen Waffensysteme mit dem russischen Namen Kalibr (wobei ich bislang noch nicht die Bestätigung gesehen habe, dass es sich in diesem Fall um dieses System handelt). Diese auch als Marineversion verfügbaren Mittelstreckenraketen sollen sowohl konventionell als auch nuklear bestückbar sein.

Nachtrag: Das russische Verteidigungsministerium hat dazu ein Video veröffentlicht, dass den Abschuss von Marschflugkörpern zeigt – und ihren Flugweg als Grafik:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMasnaAf_H4?rel=0&w=500&h=281]
(Direktlink: https://youtu.be/iMasnaAf_H4)

Nachtrag 2: Offizielle Informationen dazu vom russischen Militär:

Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Andrei Kartapolov told about the results of usage of cruise missiles against militants in Syria

Cruise missile strikes held from the south-west part of the Caspian Sea against militants in Syria have been agreed on by Russia and its partners beforehand. This was stated today by the Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov.

Andrei Kartapolov told that on October 5-6, the Russian reconnaissance had discovered a number of important objects of militants, which were to be destroyed immediately and explained that their engagement had been decided to be carried out with the use of long-range cruise missiles.

He emphasized that the cruise missile strikes had been agreed on with the Russian partners beforehand.

Andrei Kartapolov also reminded that the Russian party had already announced its “plans to build-up the intensiveness of strikes against the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra objects”.

Andrei Kartapolov mentioned that in order to provide security for civil population, the flight corridor for cruise missiles had been planned over uninhabited areas. The strikes engaged plants producing ammunition and explosives, command centres, storages of munitions, armament and POL as well as a training camp of terrorists on the territory of the Raqqah, Idlib and Aleppo.

According to him, engagement of these facilities reduces the mobility of militants and deprives them of the ability to perform heinous terrorist attacks.

Missile ships Dagestan, Grad Sviyazhsk, Veliky Ustyug and Uglich performed the launches.

All the assigned targets have been engaged.

During his meeting with journalists, Andrei Kartapolov stressed that all the targets had been properly analyzed using the data received from space and radio reconnaissance, communications interception, and photos made by UAVs. Data collected by intelligence of Syria, Iran and Iraq, including human intelligence, was also used.

He also explained that the strikes were carried out only against verified targets. Each strike is preceded by a long and thorough preparation.

The special file on each facility is prepared before the strike.

Andrei Kartopolov said that the final decision on elimination of targets was made only after the analysis of all the data and computer simulation of the strikes. Aviation targeting was made according to the same algorithm.

He stressed that modern high-accuracy munitions were used in Syria. High-accuracy engagement is reached by complex use of such munitions with hi-tech armament systems.

Andrei Kartopolov stated that the maximum deviation did not exceed 5 metres.

He also noted that Russia had repeatedly cancelled strikes against the terrorists “just because they left their bases and camps and sheltered as a rule in inhabited areas and in close proximity to religious institutions”.

Andrei Kartapolov mentioned that nevertheless, the Russian Armed Forces were being accused of hitting civilian facilities and mosques.

He stressed with full responsibility that objects situated in inhabited areas were not considered as targets.

According to Andrei Kartapolov, Russia suggested its partners to share locations of the “Islamic State” objects but there was still no answer.

Andrei Kartapolov stated that it shows that either the partners did not have the coordinates or they did not want us to make strikes against ISIS; the reason remained unclear.

(Foto: Screenshot aus dem russischen Video)