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| Syria crisis: Russian missiles 'fell on Iran' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Four Russian cruise missiles fired at Syria from the Caspian Sea landed in Iran, unnamed US officials say. | |
| It was unclear whether the missiles caused any damage, they said. | |
| Russia's defence ministry has declined to comment. On Wednesday, Russia said it had launched 26 cruise missiles at targets in north and north-west Syria. | |
| The news came as Nato renewed assurances to defend its allies in view of the "escalation of Russian military activities" in Syria. | |
| Nato is boosting its response forces to be able to deploy troops speedily. | |
| Moscow denies Western accusations that it has mainly targeted opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, insisting its strikes have hit the infrastructure of the so-called Islamic State (IS) and other militant groups. | |
| IS militants have seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. | |
| The Russian air strikes had "weakened" IS, Syrian Army Chief of Staff Gen Ali Abdullah Ayoub said on Thursday, enabling the army to start a "big attack" to retake towns and villages. | |
| Heavy fighting was reported in areas of Idlib, Hama and Latakia provinces, where a coalition of rebels that includes the Nusra Front operates. | |
| Government-backed troops had moved into the key Ghab plain area, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. |