Russian parliament approves use of military force in Syria
The day after Vladimir Putin said that Russian military assets were not in use on Syria's front line, the Duma has given unanimous approval for the use of military force in Syria, but limiting involvement to airforce operations for the time being. A second squadron of Russian SU-34 strike fighter jets arrives in Syria's Latakia airport this morning, bringing the known number of Russian fighters to 12﻿, plus a number of helicopter gun-ships.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has turned to Russia with a request for military assistance, according to Ivanov.

“I would like to inform you that the president of the Syrian Arab Republic turned to the leadership of our country with a request to provide military assistance, so we may say that terrorism needs to be fought, efforts need to be combined, but it is still necessary to observe the norms of international law,” Ivanov told journalists.

Kremlin will inform foreign partners of the decision made by the parliament of using Russian armed forces abroad during the day through foreign ministry channels, and the military will do the same through their channels.

According to Ivanov, the decision was made to help Syria and protect Russian interests.

"First and, probably, the most important, we are talking about Syria alone, and we are not talking about reaching some foreign policy goals, satisfying some ambitions which our western partners accuse us of, we are talking about Russia's national interests alone," Ivanov told journalists.

Ivanov said that the Air Force operations would be temporary, but was unable to say exactly how long they would be in play.

“In regard to the timeline, the Russian Air Force operation, of course, cannot last forever and has a definite time period, but what the time period is, for example, in regard to the number of days as well as telling you how many aircraft will be used and which armament will be used by our Air Force, I cannot say right now for obvious reasons,” Ivanov said.

Commenting on the airstrikes carried out by Western powers, Ivanov said they were not in line with international law.

"As you all know very well, the United States… is launching airstrikes on the territory of Syria and Iraq, and maybe other Middle Eastern States. Recently France has joined the same analogous actions, Australia and a number of other coutnries are talking about the same thing.. I would like to note one principal moment — these actions are being carried out in circumvention of international law," Ivanov told the press.