Iraq suspends northern flights due to Russia's Syria strikes

Moscow claimed to have killed more than 600 fighters after hitting seven targets in the Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo provinces, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

Russia, which has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 30, sharply raised the intensity from Tuesday following confirmation that the Russian Metrojet plane in Egypt was downed by a bomb, which the Islamic State group said it had planted.

In a video posted online by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday, the Russian words "За Париж" - or "for Paris" in English - are written on what appears to be bombs on a Russian jet in Syria.

Iraq closed its northern airspace to commercial flights yesterday for at least two days because of military traffic from Russia's air campaign in neighbouring Syria, a spokesman for Erbil worldwide Airport said. Since Monday, Russian bombers have dropped 1,400 tons of bombs, while all Russian aircraft have flown 522 sorties.

The closure was expected to affect domestic routes to Erbil and Sulaimaniya as well as global flights from Turkey, Jordan, the Gulf and Austria.

United States officials said last month four missiles launched from Russian warships in the Caspian Sea had crashed in Iran, but Moscow insisted they had reached their targets in Syria.

At least eight people were killed in at least 50 air strikes in the eastern Deir Ezzor province on Friday, during which dozens of oil tankers were destroyed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

He also said that due to the Russian aerial attacks, the number of militants entering Syria in order to join or train with ISIS - terrorists who could return to Europe and other areas to carry out attacks similar to those that struck Paris last week - has been reduced.

Civilian flights between Baghdad and northern Iraq have been suspended for security, not political reasons, a member of the Security and Defence Committee in the Iraqi Parliament said on Monday.

 

Russian long-range bombers and navy ships have launched 101 cruise missiles in four days, including 18 fired Friday by Russian navy ships from the Caspian Sea.