Russia Confirms Bomb Brought Down Plane, Begins Bombing Syria in Retaliation
Russia on Tuesday joined France in bombing ISIS targets in Syria after confirming for the first time that a jet crash over the Sinai province earlier this month was caused by a bomb.
“We can say definitely that this was a terrorist act,” Alexander V. Bortnikov, the head of the Federal Security Service reportedly said in an address that aired Tuesday morning.
The crash killed 224 people aboard the Airbus A321, which was en route to St. Petersburg from Egypt. Russia eventually suspended all flights in and out of the country as investigators tried to determine the cause of the crash.
Data from the black box, coupled with a claim of responsibility from ISIS affiliates, seemed to confirm the “very sudden explosive decompression” was caused by an on-board bomb.
Now, Russia has joined the airstrikes in Raqqa, where the French have been bombing targets since Sunday. The details, via the New York Times:
For a second straight day French warplanes hit a command post and a recruitment center for jihadists in an Islamic State stronghold, Raqqa, the French Ministry of Defense announced on its website, while Russian news reports said a Russian submarine had fired cruise missiles at Islamic State targets in the same area.
Russia struck Raqqa with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a submarine in the eastern Mediterranean, the RBC news agency reported, citing sources in the Russian Defense Ministry. The agency said it was the first time Russia had fired cruise missiles from a submarine during a war.
Currently Russia is offering a $50 million bounty for information leading to the bombers.
“We will search for them everywhere, no matter where they are hiding,” Putin reportedly said Tuesday. “We will find them in any place on the planet and will punish them.”
