Russia fires missiles at IS positions from submarine deployed in Mediterranean

MOSCOW - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that Russia attacked the Islamic State (IS) positions in Syria with Kalibr missiles fired by the submarine deployed in the Mediterranean Sea.

According to Shoigu, the missile launch was carried out by the sub from a submerged position, striking two major targets of the IS.

"It was the first time that Kalibr cruise missiles were fired by the Rostov-on-Don submarine from the Mediterranean Sea," Tass news agency quoted Shoigu as saying during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The objectives were two major points of terrorists in Syrian Raqqa province ... We are confident to say that the strikes brought quite significant damage to an ammunition warehouse and a mine plant, as well as to the oil infrastructure," Shoigu said.

According to him, both Israel and the US were informed of Russia's plans of striking terrorist positions using missiles from the submarine.

The Russian minister also said that in the past three days, more than 300 sorties were made by Tu-22 long-range bombers and other Russian aircraft deployed at Syria's Hmeimim airbase, hitting more than 600 targets.