Russians Bomb ISIS with Cruise Missiles ( with video )

From RT and the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Two Russian Navy frigates and a submarine have fired six Kalibr cruise missiles on Islamic State targets in Syria, the Defense Ministry said. Militants who survived the attack were later killed in airstrikes.
The missiles were launched from Russian Navy frigates, the Admiral Essen and the Admiral Grigorovich, as well as a submarine, the Krasnodar, from the eastern Mediterranean, the Defense Ministry said in a Friday statement. The submarine fired its missiles while submerged.

The strikes targeted Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) command and control centers, as well as ammunition depots in the Syrian province of Hama.

What's important to note is that Russia informed both Iran and Turkey of this strike and not the United States. This puts paid the news that there has been no re-institution of the 'de-confliction' hotline the two had previous to Sunday's shooting down of a Syrian SU-22 south of Raqqa.

Understand that that shooting had absolutely zero to do with 'defending coalition forces' as the U.S. Dept. of Defense, claimed. It could only have been done if the U.S. knew where the plane would be because the F/18 that shot it down launched from an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean.

This post by a commentator at The Duran lays out how the incident likely occurred: http://disq.us/p/1jrr7t4
The whole comment is worth the read, but these are the salient points:

1. If the Su-22 hadn't left by then, it must have been because the Hornet was already on the way by the time the Su-22 began its attack. I am reminded of the assassination of the Russian Su-24 by a Turkish F-16, which was supposedly a response to the Su-24 having overflown Turkish air space for 18 seconds. But the two F-16s involved had taken off 2 hours before! Unless time travel or precognition is involved, we can only conclude that the Americans, in both cases, planned their assassinations based on the information the Russians gave them of their attack plans.

1. How did the F/A-18, alone in a strange area, and with strictly limited fuel, manage to find the Su-22 and shoot it down so quickly? In a war, each side does its best to deceive the enemy and deprive them of information. In this incident, as in the murder of the Su-24, it seems things were the opposite way round: the Americans could hardly have done what they did without using information supplied by the enemy (who thought they were friends).

If you are wondering why the Russians are so angry at the U.S. over this incident, now you know. That Su-22 was attacking ISIS targets in Resafa, which is an important logistical point linking Raqqa with Deir Ezzor to the Southeast. ISIS has been allowed to evacuate its forces from Raqqa and the U.S./SDF forces have been providing cover for them. The Syrian Army made huge moves this week to alter that situation and the U.S. struck back to 'defend our interests.'

This missile strike by the Russians does two things. It serves as a big warning to the U.S. that the gloves are coming off. Second, this should allow the Syrian Army to push East from Palmyra towards Deir Ezzor much faster now.

This is a ballsy move by the Russians. One that will further back off U.S. aggression and support for its ISIS pets.

Personally, it drives me nuts to see this play out. This is not at all what I want my money and life spent in service of. But, this is the world we have until something changes.