MOSCOW (Reuters/AFP) - The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday (Aug 16) that long-range Russian bombers based in Iran had struck a number of targets inside Syria.

"On August 16 Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 frontline bombers, flying with a full bomb load from the Hamedan air base (Islamic Republic of Iran), conducted a group air strike against targets of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist groups in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib," a Defence Ministry statement carried by Russian news agencies said.

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel reported earlier on Tuesday that the Kremlin had deployed Tupolev-22 bombers at an air base near the Iranian city of Hamadan to carry out air strikes against militants in Syria.