DHAKA: Russia appears to have carried out its first air strikes in Syria against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, US officials say.

They say the strikes reportedly came in the area of the city of Homs, and that Washington was informed in advance that they were about to take place, reports the BBC.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin won permission from parliament to carry out air strikes in Syria.

It would be Moscow’s first engagement in a distant theatre of war since the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

The announcement came as Putin and US President Barack Obama are pushing rival plans on ways to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria and the role of the country’s embattled leader Bashar al-Assad.

BDST: 1839 HRS, SEP 30, 2015
SR