俄軍戰機首次從伊朗起飛作戰
Russia has bombed targets in Syria from an air base in Iran for the first time, strengthening Moscow’s position in the Middle East and increasing pressure on the US to co-ordinate its Syrian military campaign with Russia.
俄羅斯戰機首次從伊朗一個空軍基地起飛，執行轟炸敘利亞境內目標的任務，此舉加強了莫斯科方面在中東的地位，並加大了美國承受的壓力，要求其與俄羅斯協調敘利亞軍事行動。
The Russian defence ministry said a group of long-range Tupolev Tu-22 M3 bombers and Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers had taken off from Hamadan in the south-west of Tehran. The planes carried out strikes in the provinces of Aleppo, Deir Ezzor and Idlib against Islamist militants fighting for Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra, which has rebranded itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham after revoking direct ties to al-Qaeda.
俄羅斯國防部表示，一批圖波列夫圖-22M3遠程轟炸機（Tu-22M3，北約代號：逆火C型）和蘇霍伊蘇-34戰鬥轟炸機（Su-34，北約代號：後衛）從德黑蘭西南方向上的哈馬丹(Hamadan)起飛。這些戰機在敘利亞阿勒頗、代爾祖爾和伊德利卜省執行了打擊伊斯蘭主義武裝分子的任務，這些武裝分子爲“伊拉克與黎凡特伊斯蘭國”(ISIS)和“征服敘利亞陣線”(Jabhat Fateh al-Sham)效力，後者的前稱是“努斯拉陣線”(Jabhat al-Nusra)，爲了撇清與基地組織(al-Qaeda)的關係而更名。
Iran has no known record of allowing another state to use its territory as a base for fighting against a third country or foreign opposition groups.
就外界所知，伊朗沒有允許另一個國家使用其領土作爲基地，打擊第三國或境外反政府組織的過往記錄。
The move came as Moscow and Washington, which back opposing sides in the conflict, are locked in difficult talks. John Kerry, US secretary of state, prop-osed last month that the US co-ordinate strikes against al-Nusra with the Russian military in exchange for Moscow forcing Syria to ground its air force.
此舉出爐之際，在敘利亞衝突中支持相互敵對的勢力的莫斯科和華盛頓方面陷入艱難談判。美國國務卿約翰•克里(John Kerry)上月提議美國與俄軍協調打擊努斯拉陣線的行動，以換取莫斯科方面迫使敘利亞空軍停飛。
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said yesterday the two sides were “moving step by step closer to a plan — and I’m only talking about Aleppo here — that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace”.
俄羅斯國防部長謝爾蓋•紹伊古(Sergei Shoigu)昨日表示，雙方正在“一步步接近一個計劃——我這裏說的只是阿勒頗戰場——該計劃將真正讓我們開始一起爲和平而戰”。
Colonel Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman, said Russia had notified the US of the flights from Iran under their agreement on flight safety in Syria.
美國軍方發言人克里斯托弗•加弗上校(Colonel Christopher Garver)表示，俄羅斯根據美俄敘利亞飛行安全協議，在行動之前向美方通報了從伊朗起飛的飛行計劃。
“They did not impact coalition operations in either Iraq or Syria,” he said. “They informed us they were coming through and we ensured safety of flight.”
“他們沒有影響聯軍在伊拉克或敘利亞的行動，”他說。“他們通知我方，他們將進入相關空域，我方確保了飛行安全。”
One of the Kremlin’s motivations in becoming involved in Syria is believed to be a desire to deal with Washington as an equal in matters of global importance. There are also advantages for Russia to use Iran as a staging ground to facilitate the logistics for Moscow’s operations in Syria: Hamadan is only one-third of the distance from the base in southern Russia that the long-range bombers have been using so far.
據信，克里姆林宮捲入敘利亞衝突的動機之一，是渴望在具有全球重要性的事務上與華盛頓方面平起平坐。對於俄軍在敘利亞軍事行動的後勤工作，利用伊朗作爲集結地也有優勢：相比俄軍遠程轟炸機此前使用的俄羅斯南方的基地，哈馬丹可把距離縮短至三分之一。
Iran has not yet confirmed Russian use of its air bases. But Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s top security official and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said: “Co-operation between Iran and Russia to fight against terrorism in Syria is strategic, for which we are exch-anging [military] capacities and facilities.”
伊朗尚未證實俄羅斯利用其空軍基地。但伊朗最高安全官員、最高國家安全委員會(Supreme National Security Council)祕書阿里•沙姆哈尼(Ali Shamkhani)表示：“伊朗與俄羅斯合作打擊敘利亞境內的恐怖主義是戰略性的，我們爲此正在交換（軍事）能力和設施。”
