Hurricane Joaquin expected to become major hurricane

Hurricane Joaquin Prompts New Warnings in Bahamas; U.S. East Coast Landfall Concerns Growing

Hurricane warnings have been expanded to include more of the Bahamas as Hurricane Joaquin churns toward the nation of islands east of Florida. Despite considerable uncertainty, the odds of a landfall on the U.S. East Coast appear to be increasing, and the official forecast track suggests that Joaquin could become the first landfalling hurricane on the U.S. mainland in 15 months.

An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft measured sufficiently strong flight-level winds and low surface pressure to prompt the National Hurricane Center to upgrade Joaquin Wednesday morning. The Hurricane Hunters found a 55-mile-wide eye, but it was open on its north side – meaning that robust thunderstorms had not fully encircled the Joaquin's center of circulation.

Hurricane Joaquin Information

The latest statistics as provided by NOAA's National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Joaquin continues to intensify slowly, as wind shear – harmful to the intensification of tropical cyclones – lessens, and a complicated atmospheric pattern makes its future track – including any potential landfall on the U.S. East Coast – extremely difficult to forecast.

Residents along the East Coast of the U.S. should pay close attention to the forecast now through this weekend. It's a particularly difficult forecast that hinges on the behavior of several different atmospheric features over North America and the North Atlantic Ocean.

Aware Threat Index

A graphic highlighting areas that need to pay close attention to forecasts as significant impacts could possibly be felt beneath the orange shaded area within the next few days.

Computer forecast models – and the meteorologists who rely on them for guidance – are grappling with a complex interaction between Joaquin, a cold front near the East Coast, the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida, a strong bubble of high pressure aloft over the North Atlantic Ocean, and a potentially strong area of low pressure aloft digging into the southeastern U.S. later this week.

Ensemble Forecast Mode Tracks

The lines on this graphic represent several of the many ensemble track forecasts from various computer models. This is not an official forecast, but models such as these are often used as guidance for creating the projected path for a storm.

Joaquin's future depends critically on the position and relative strength of those players – not to mention its own strength. Strong wind shear had kept most of Joaquin's thunderstorm activity (convection) south or east of its center of circulation, but that changed Tuesday afternoon and evening as thunderstorms developed closer to its circulation center.

(MORE: Expert Analysis | Hurricane Central)

Visible Satellite

During daylight hours, you will see the clouds more or less as they would look to the naked eye from space. At night, it's too dark to see the clouds, so this image will display infrared satellite data instead.

Because Joaquin is strengthening and drifting ever closer to the Bahamas, the government of that country has issued warnings and watches for much of its territory. Here are the details as of 5 p.m. EDT:

• A hurricane warning is now in effect for the northwestern Bahamas including the Abacos, Berry Islands, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island, and New Providence, but excluding Andros Island and Bimini.
• A hurricane warning remain in effect for the central Bahamas, including Cat Island, the Exumas, Long Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador.
• A hurricane watch is now in effect for Bimini.
• A tropical storm warning is now in effect for the southeastern Bahamas including the Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, the Inaguas, Mayaguana, and the Ragged Islands, but excluding the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hurricane Joaquin: Watches and Warnings

This map shows watches and warnings issued by the Government of the Bahamas. The latest position of the hurricane is also shown, along with the forecast path over the next 24 hours (dark red) and 48 hours (dark orange).

Hurricane preparations should be rushed to completion in the hurricane warning area.

(MORE: Bahamians Prepare for Hurricane Joaquin)

Joaquin is expected to slowly churn toward the Bahamas through Thursday. The extent of the effects on those islands will depend heavily on how close it gets and how much time it spends nearby before making the anticipated northward turn.

At this time, we expect some of the worst impacts in the Bahamas to occur on San Salvador and Rum Cay, the islands closest to Joaquin's current position. On San Salvador, rainfall totals could exceed 2 feet. Sustained tropical-storm force winds of 39 mph or greater may develop Wednesday night and continue unabated for 48 hours or more.

Track Forecast: Still Extremely Challenging

Although computer model simulations have had the advantage of ingesting high-resolution real-world data from the Air Force reconnaissance flight earlier in the day, it doesn't seem to have brought them any closer to a consensus.

The American GFS model forecast continues to show Joaquin making an alarming northwestward turn, slamming it right into Virginia, Maryland or North Carolina this weekend. Meanwhile, the European ECMWF model suggests Joaquin has a chance of staying away from the U.S. East Coast.

It is simply too soon and the uncertainty is too high to determine any impacts from Joaquin itself for the U.S. East Coast at this time.

The National Hurricane Center's official forecast cone is below. The official forecast remains a compromise between the competing scenarios from the computer models.

(MAP: Track Hurricane Joaquin with our New Interactive Storm Tracker)

Projected Ptah

Note that the official intensity forecast now brings Joaquin to Category 3 strength on Saturday morning, which by definition would make it a major hurricane.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of Joaquin's path, portions of the East Coast will still see multiple impacts from the evolving large-scale weather pattern, including flooding rainfall, gusty winds, high surf, beach erosion and some coastal flooding. Click the link below for more information on that story.

(MORE: Significant Impacts Likely on East Coast)

Late Week and Weekend Setup

Some of the atmospheric forces at play over eastern North America and the western Atlantic Ocean Friday through this weekend.

In summary, here's what we know about Joaquin as of Wednesday's 5 p.m. EDT advisory:

• Hurricane Joaquin's center is located about 175 miles east-northeast of the central Bahamas.
• Maximum sustained winds are estimated at 85 mph, a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
• As wind shear over the storm lessens, Joaquin should strengthen further the next 2 to 3 days.
• This system is moving slowly to the southwest and this is expected to continue through Thursday before turning north Friday into Saturday.
• Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for parts of the Bahamas.
• Joaquin may directly or indirectly affect the East Coast late this weekend or early next week, and a landfall is possible.
• Moisture and/or energy associated with Joaquin could enhance rainfall along the cold front in the Northeast late this week. Regardless, the East Coast will see significant impacts from the larger scale weather pattern taking shape.

Flooding and landslides triggered by Joining forces

Governor Cuomo urges New Yorkers to prepare for severe weather conditions

Looking in the mirror

Another warning from Gerald Celente

Gerald Celente – WARNING: Ignore The Rally As Market Meltdown Is Imminent

King World News,

30 September, 2015

Today the top trends forecaster in the world Gerald Celente warned people to ignore the rally because a market meltdown is imminent.

September 30 (King World News) – The Summer of 2015 is one for the financial record books. Since the Shanghai Index began melting down in mid-June, equity markets have been battered, commodity prices plunged and currencies of resource-rich nations and emerging markets tested old lows and hit new ones…

As conditions deteriorated, the financial world focused on 17 September when the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) would announce if it would raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, or maintain its Zero Interest Rate Policy which has been in place since late 2008. In response to the Fed’s decision not to raise rates due to concerns that China’s economy was slowing and the global economy risked falling into recession, equity markets, commodities and currencies resumed their downward slide.

Then, just one week later, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen, speaking at the University of Massachusetts, signaled that the Fed intends to raise rates this year. In response, global equity markets, after a brief upward spike, continued their downward spiral along with commodities and currencies.

The Carnage Continues, Despite The Propaganda

Thus, when the FOMC initially announced in mid September they were continuing ZIRP, markets dramatically declined. Then, one week later, when the Fed chairwoman insinuated the Fed would raise short-term rates, equity markets continued to decline, commodity prices continued to fall and, as 20 foreign-exchange rates hit record lows, currencies continued to plunge.

And for good reason: The higher US interest rates go, the more concerned countries and companies become over their ability to pay back massive debt load accumulated when ultra-low interest rates and cheap money fueled the borrowing boom, stock buybacks, record merger and acquisition activity, and the bond market frenzy.

However, the Fed’s 17 September decision not to raise rates in view of a slowing global economy continues to be supported by data. For example, Japan’s government announced this week industrial output fell 0.5 percent in August, down for the second straight month. On the market front, Tokyo’s exchange has lost 16 percent since the end of June, the most since the Panic of ’08.

Overall, MSCI’s All-Country World Index is down 11 percent since June 30, the sharpest slump since 2011, while its Emerging Markets stocks benchmark has fallen 20 percent in the past three months.

IMF Warns Again As Equity Market Meltdown Imminent

And also this week, The International Monetary Fund warned that with corporate debt of non-financial firms in emerging markets ballooning from $4 trillion in 2004 to $18 trillion in 2014, “Emerging markets should be prepared for corporate distress and sporadic failures in the wake of monetary policy normalization in advanced economies.” And, according to the Institute of International Finance, investors have pulled $40 billion out of emerging markets in the third quarter, the fastest pace since the height of the ’08 Panic

Trend Forecast: Expectations are for the Fed to raise rates in December. Given the hard data of a worldwide slowdown and IMF warnings, we maintain our forecast for an equity market meltdown by year’s end. 

Check-mate. Putin outfoxes U.S. warmongers

This article nails it

"It is almost certain that the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system is now operational in Syria. "ISIS" has no air force, so this system was clearly intended to protect against a NATO bombing campaign aimed at the Syrian army

“Putin's speech at the UN two days ago appears to have been the signal (one that was apparently missed by the Pentagon, perhaps because it was couched in clear, honest language) that Russia was about to 'get real' and make good on its intention to prevent the overthrow of Assad, defend the civilian population of Syria against ISIS, and solve the European 'refugee crisis' in the process.”

Russia establishes 'no fly' 

zone for NATO planes over 

Syria, moves to destroy 

"ISIS" - Pentagon freaks out

Check-mate. Putin outfoxes U.S. warmongers

Sott.net 

26 November, 2014

You may, or may not, have noticed the growing body of evidence over the past year or two that strongly suggests that the U.S. government and its European "allies" are not really serious about destroying "ISIS".


The first hint came early last year when the jihadi mercenaries took large swathes of Iraq and Syria, and the West did nothing but wring its collective hands and fret, and resolve to bolster the fighting capability of the wonderful "rebels".


The second hint came this year when the U.S. and their partners began piecemeal airstrikes against "ISIS" that appeared to merely spur the head-choppers on to more success.


The third hint came with reports that weapons supplies being sent to "Syrian rebels" were 'accidentally' ending up in the hands of the head-choppers.


The most recent confirmation that Western politicians and military types effectively view "ISIS" as 'their guys' came in the last few weeks when the Pentagon reacted to news that Russia was in the process of establishing an air base in western Syria, from which to attack all foreign forces in Syria involved in the four-year-long attempted coup against the Syrian government.


Putin's speech at the UN two days ago appears to have been the signal (one that was apparently missed by the Pentagon, perhaps because it was couched in clear, honest language) that Russia was about to 'get real' and make good on its intention to prevent the overthrow of Assad, defend the civilian population of Syria against ISIS, and solve the European 'refugee crisis' in the process.


On the same day as Putin's speech, the Russian government revealed that Iraq had decided to sign an intelligence-sharing accord with Syria, Iran and Russia as part of the mission to wipe ISIS from the pages of history. They even set up a center in Baghdad to facilitate this information-sharing and have invited other nations interested in joining the counterterrorism effort in Syria to sign up.


Today, with a speed that indicates the result of the vote was a foregone conclusion, the Russian parliament unanimously agreed to allow the Russian military to engage in Syria. The decision was rubber-stamped by the Duma on the basis that the Syrian government had invited the Russian military to help in their fight against terrorists, and with the rationale that ISIS terrorists and the 2,000 (give or take) Russian nationals that have joined them "must be defeated there and not allowed to return to their home countries [e.g. Russia] with battle experience and ideology adopted in the war zone." Russian involvement in Syria is, therefore, very much in keeping with international law, a quaint notion long since dispensed with by the "international community" of Washington, London and a few EU capitals. 

But just in case anyone was still in doubt, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov today pointed out at the UN Security Council debatethat "ISIS" possesses "elements of Weapons of Mass Destruction", a claim which is decidedly more plausible than the U.S. claim that Saddam had WMDs back in 2003.

With a consistency between word and action that exposes Western governments for the liars they are, the Russian military, on the orders of Putin, today began carrying out air strikes against Jihadi targets in Syria:

"In accordance with the decision of the Supreme Commander of the Russian Federation Armed Forces, Vladimir Putin, Russian airforce planes today began air operations with surgical strikes against identified ground targets of the terrorist group ISIL in the Syrian Arab Republic."

By all accounts, the Pentagon appears to have been caught with its pants down, which is not surprising given that so many of its employees spend their time watching child porn on their computers. 

'Russia did WHAT?!' - Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work

Yesterday, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that he was "surprised" at the decision by Iraq's Joint Operations Command to share intelligence with Syria, Iran and Russia in an effort to coordinate action against the Islamic State. The problem for the Pentagon here is twofold: 1) Iraq, Syria, Iran and Russia combining their resources to defeat "ISIS" puts the US and NATO firmly out of the picture. 2) The Pentagon had, in its hubris, believed that the Iraqi government was sufficiently 'owned' that it could share sensitive US military intelligence about US military activities (and US proxy forces) with the Iraqis. There is now a risk that that intelligence may be made available to the Russians, allowing for the better targeting of US and Saudi proxy forces in Syria, and even Iraq.

The next surprise came this morning, when Russia effectively told the U.S. it had one hour to leave Syria:

"A Russian official in Baghdad this morning informed US Embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would begin flying anti-ISIL missions today over Syria.

"He further requested that US aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during these missions," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Despite the fact that Russia, Iran and Syria are targeting terrorist groups in Syria, Deputy Work said: "Obviously, we are not going to share intelligence with either Syria, or Russia, or Iran, so we are in the process of working to try and find out exactly what Iraq has said."

In further evidence that things have gone a little 'pear-shaped' for the Pentagon, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, Evelyn Farkas, has been fired has resigned and will leave at the end of October, according to a senior U.S. defense official. Ms Farkas's responsibilities included dealing with Russia on Syria and Ukraine. Oops.

By carefully choosing which type of military aid to give to Syria, Russia has effectively created a 'no-fly' zone for NATO war planes above large swathes of Syria, unless of course pilots more accustomed to engaging in turkey shoots want to risk being blown out of the sky.

It is almost certain that the Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile system is now operational in Syria. "ISIS" has no air force, so this system was clearly intended to protect against a NATO bombing campaign aimed at the Syrian army. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons that Western military attacks on "ISIS" have been so ineffective. Not that Russia or Syria ever wanted to stop Western bombs falling on "ISIS" positions; they just wanted to stop NATO using the excuse of attacking "ISIS" to target the Syrian military. 

Russia's S300 missile system. Now protecting the Syrian people from NATO bombs

With the recently enhanced Russian air base at Latakia, Russian air force planes stationed there can freely engage U.S. proxy mercenary (ISIS) targets and (hopefully) close the book on this latest monstrosity created by the psychopaths in Washington and their misogynistic, head-chopping "royal" friends in the Gulf.

There is, however, one down side to this new development; Europe is already dealing with a large influx of refugees from Syria. It's really unreasonable of the Russians to risk adding about 30,000 more "ISIS" jihadis into the mix, most of whom, as I speak, are frantically shaving off their terrorist beards and heading for Turkey and 'safe passage' to Germany.

It didn't take long from the Duma rubberstamping the use of force in Syria to the first airstrike against ISIS positions (or on "moderate opposition" if you beleive the garbage from the western press).

8 ISIS targets hit during 20 combat flights in Syria – Russian military

RT,

30 September, 2015

Russia has struck eight Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) targets in Syria, the country’s Defense Ministry said, adding that "civilian infrastructure" was avoided during the operations.

FOLLOW RT'S LIVE UPDATES ON SYRIA ANTI-TERROR OP

“Today, Russian aerospace force jets delivered pinpoint strikes on eight ISIS terror group targets in Syria. In total, 20 flights were made,” spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, said.

“As a result, arms and fuel depots and military equipment were hit. ISIS coordination centers in the mountains were totally destroyed,” he dded.

Konashenkov said that all the flights took place after air surveillance and careful verification of the data provided by the Syrian military. He stressed that Russian jets did not target any civilian infrastructure and avoided these territories.

“Russian jets did not use weapons on civilian infrastructure or in its vicinity,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the Russian military announced the start of air operations in Syria in order to help the goverment fight terrorist forces. Syrian state television named at least seven areas targeted by the air strikes.

They included areas around the cities of Homs and Hama, which are 44 kilometers apart, according to various media reports.

Moscow blasts ‘infowar’ following civilian deaths accusations

The statement by the Defense Ministry refuted earlier reports about civilian casualties that Russian air strikes allegedly led to.

Reuters reported that Russia targeted opposition rebel groups in Homs province instead of Islamic State forces. The agency cited Syrian opposition chief Khaled Khoja, who put the death toll of the bombardment at 36 civilians.

"Russia is intending not to fight ISIL [Islamic State], but to prolong the life of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad," Khoja said.

Similar claims were made by the BBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera and numerous other news outlets.

However, US Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, said that Pentagon can’t confirm these allegations, though NATO declared it was concerned by the reports that targets other than ISIS could have been hit.

READ MORE: Preemptive strike is how you fight terrorism – Putin on Syrian engagement 

Moscow harshly criticized the reports, labeling them an information war.

“Russia didn’t even begin its operation against Islamic State… Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov didn’t even utter his first words at the UN Security Council, but numerous reports already emerged in the media that civilians are dying as a result of the Russian operation and that it’s aimed at democratic forces in the country (Syria),” Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told media.

“It’s all an information attack, a war, of which we’ve heard so many times,” she added.

#Russia ready to fight in #Syria: Why and how? http://t.co/W0Ufut1qc4pic.twitter.com/wQA1me3EVu

— RT (@RT_com) September 30, 2015

Zakharova also said that she was amazed by the scale and speed of what she called “info injections” into social networks such as “photos of alleged victims” that appeared on the web as soon as the Russian operation began.

“What can I say? We all know perfectly how such pictures are made,” she said, remembering a Hollywood flick ‘Wag the Dog,’ which described the US media reporting on a fake war in Albania.

The spokesman urged the media, including, Western outlets “to turn to top officials in the [Russian] Defense Ministry press service to obtain all required information" about the country’s operation in Syria.

Russian jets hitting Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, Sept 30 2015

Jabhat al-Nusra fighters panicing while Russian jets are striking their positions near Talbisah, a town 10km to the north from Homs on Sept 30, 2015

"NATO and the United States should change their policy because the time when they dictate their conditions to the world has passed," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Dushanbe, capital of the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan

Anti-Putin Propaganda Begins: ‘Moderate’ Terrorists Complain Russia Bombed Them

21^st Century Wire,

30 September, 2015

21st Century Wire says…
You really could not make this up.
Today has marked the official start of Russia’s bombing campaign against ISIS, and the Western establishment has taken to mainstream media to launch a propaganda campaign against Putin’s efforts.

That campaign takes the form of reports that have emerged claiming that supposedly ‘non-ISIS’ rebels have been bombed by Russian jets.

The Independent, a British outlet, says that ‘activists in Homs and Hama provinces have posted images and video online claiming to show Russian planes bombing groups of non-Isis rebels who are fighting Bashar al-Assad’s forces‘.

There are numerous glaring problems with this assessment. The first, obviously, being that anonymous ‘activists’ provided the information. The second being that the video that news outlet links to shows no jets at all, let alone ‘Russian planes’. 

The third is that those ‘non-ISIS rebels’ are still ‘fighting Bashar al-Assad’s forces’, who are the main anti-ISIS force in the entire country, which makes them part of the problem.
A whole lot of hot air. (Photo Credit: YouTube)

The outlet even admits that jihadists ‘sometimes co-operate with Free Syrian Army in its battles against Isis and government forces‘. At what point does cooperation become amalgamation? It has been widely understood for some time that there are no ‘moderates’ in the opposition and the FSA is just as bad as the rest.

Technically, Assad and his government is the internationally recognised, legal entity in sovereign control of Syria, which means anyone fighting, violently, against him is a terrorist. For those in disagreement, aside from suggesting study of international relations, we offer this definition of terrorism:

Terrorism:

The unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims.

This is an obvious response to the humiliation the West’s Syrian policies faced this week from Putin at the UNGA, where he delivered a landmark speech exposing Western crimes and failuresin the region.

We await the arrival of a political opposition force and the Syrian Gandhi, Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King, because the FSA is certainly not it. In the mean time, let us hope that Russia can get the job done and help to establish an environment where a political opposition can be successful.

READ MORE ON THE SYRIAN CRISIS: 21st Century Wire Syria Files

This is the hysterical Daily Mail of Britain. The Guardian says the same in a more "balanced" way.

Russia begins air strikes in Syria after warning US to remove its planes... but kills 36 civilians in first wave of attacks as it targets anti-government rebels instead of ISIS

• Moscow has started blitzing three provinces in support of President Assad
• But all the areas targeted are held by moderate rebels backed by coalition
• Strikes have infuriated Washington who accused Moscow of destabilising the region even further - U.S. apparently only given hour notice of strikes
• At least 36 civilians have been killed in the strikes, says monitoring group
• See latest news from Russia's air strikes in Syria 
  
  
  John McCain, who hobnobs with ISIS terrorists, didn't waste much time
  
  

ISIS has components for weapons of mass destruction

I wonder HOW they might have got them.

ISIS militants in Iraq, Syria have WMD components, Lavrov warns UN Security Council

RT,
30 September, 2015

Islamic State militants are in possession of components for weapons of mass destruction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned the UN Security Council meeting, urging that IS be included on an anti-terrorist sanction list as a separate subject.

FOLLOW RT'S LIVE UPDATES ON RUSSIAN ANTI-TERROR OP IN SYRIA

"In the vast areas of Iraq and Syria, Islamic State has actually created an extremist quasi-state, which commands an efficient repressive apparatus, stable sources of income, well-equipped army and elements of weapons of mass destruction,” Lavrov said on Wednesday at the UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting in New York.

UNSC foreign ministers gathered to debate issues of international security and terror threats, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the Russian FM, the situation in the Middle East has “degraded even more” over the past year.

“The accumulation of crisis potential came close to the point where we can talk about the destruction of the political map of the region,” he said. 

BREAKING: Russian Air Force starts operation in Syria - Defense Ministryhttp://t.co/ewIwWOmXPkpic.twitter.com/oJBz1R3Xdn

— RT (@RT_com) September 30, 2015

Lavrov stressed that Russia considers it necessary to put Islamic State on the UN Security Council's anti-terrorist sanction list as “a separate subject.”

"Any delay in settling this evident issue is becoming counterproductive from the point of view of effectiveness of UN activities in counteraction of terrorism," he said.

Moscow will submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council on a joint international effort against the Islamic State threat. 

"Today, I present a draft resolution to the members of the Security Council. It is based on documents previously adopted by the Council, with an emphasis on coherent counter-terrorism actions based on norms and principles of international law," Lavrov told the gathering.

The Russian FM also pointed out that the migrant crisis in Europe can’t be solved without the creation of “a firm barrier to the aspirations of Islamic State to place the region under a medieval dictate."

"It is not refugees that must be stopped, but terrorists and wars and conflicts begetting them," he dded.

READ MORE: Pentagon to open ‘lines of communication’ with Russia over strikes in Syria

The Russian Air Force conducted first airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Wednesday, with Lavrov saying that Moscow informed its Western partners of its actions.

"We have notified the US authorities and other members of the coalition created by the US and we are ready to establish permanent channels of communication to effectively combat terrorist groups," he said.

The FM stressed the Russia’s involvement in Syria will be “exclusively” limited by an air operation.

On Wednesday morning, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament unanimously gave formal consent to President Putin to use the country’s military in Syria to tackle Islamic State and other terror groups.

The Russian air campaign in Syria is commencing just a few days after Putin’s address at the UN, in which he called for an international anti-terrorist effort in the country.

The Russian president also met with US counterpart Barack Obama on the sidelines of the 70th UN General Assembly, with the two leaders agreeing that Moscow and Washington have common interest in Syria.