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A journalist stands at the remains of the Temple of Bel in the historic city of Palmyra, in Homs Governorate, Syria. Source: Reuters The Syrian army continues its offensive on Palmyra with the support of the Russian air task force, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Feb. 13. "The Syrian government troops are continuing their offensive towards Palmyra with the support of Russia’s aviation. A distance of less than 20 km remains to be covered. Over the past week, Russian warplanes have conducted over 90 sorties in the Palmyra direction," the Defense Ministry said in a statement obtained by  TASS . In the course of their offensive, the Syrian government troops have destroyed over 180 militants’ objectives, including more than 60 strongholds, 15 depots with armaments, munitions and military hardware, 43 armored fighting vehicles, and also jeeps armed with large-caliber machine guns, the statement said. "The terrorists’ losses in manpower have amounted to over 200 men,

NIKOLAI LITOVKIN ,   RBTH The missile defense forces guarding Moscow were put on high alert in a snap drill. RBTH reports on how the Russian capital’s skies are kept safe at all times. The Pantsir-S1 has an effective range of between six and nine miles. Source: Vitaly Nevar/TASS Russian air defense troops guarding Moscow  scrambled  in accordance with the presidential decree on a snap inspection of the Air Force. This also involves anti-missile defenses such as the S-300, S-400, and Pantsir-S surface-to-air (SAM) batteries stationed just outside Moscow. The drill called for troops deploying to their assigned railroad loading positions and defending against saboteurs. The units involved in the exercise are just a tiny part of the shield protecting Moscow against all sorts of attack from the sky. Radar far from Moscow The Moscow anti-air and anti-missile system starts well beyond the city limits, with radars for the ballistic missile early warning system, said Viktor Litovkin, a mi

Three Turkish soldiers were "accidentally" killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said. With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination. The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but "by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were," the Turkish army said in a statement. It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded. Putin contacted Erdogan to express his "sadness and condolences," it added. "Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident," the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides. In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the Islamic Republic is progressing well in the process of manufacturing an air defense system similar to the Russian S-300. “We previously announced that manufacturing the system was on the agenda and although this important objective cannot be fulfilled quickly, the manufacturing stages are making good progress,” Vahidi said on Saturday.  Alluding to the latest breakthroughs by Iran’s Defense Ministry, Vahidi said, “We hope to present our missile and naval achievements in the near future.”  In early September, Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili said that Iran has completed 30 percent of the production of the system, called Bavar (Belief) 373. Iranian experts have completed the long-range missile system's threat detection mechanism and manufactured its sensitive parts, Esmaili noted.  He expressed hope that the system will be complete by the end of the curr