俄军战机首次从伊朗起飞作战
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.
俄罗斯战机首次从伊朗一个空军基地起飞，执行轰炸叙利亚境内目标的任务，此举加强了莫斯科方面在中东的地位，并加大了美国承受的压力，要求其与俄罗斯协调叙利亚军事行动。
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.
俄罗斯国防部表示，一批图波列夫图-22M3远程轰炸机（Tu-22M3，北约代号：逆火C型）和苏霍伊苏-34战斗轰炸机（Su-34，北约代号：后卫）从德黑兰西南方向上的哈马丹(Hamadan)起飞。这些战机在叙利亚阿勒颇、代尔祖尔和伊德利卜省执行了打击伊斯兰主义武装分子的任务，这些武装分子为“伊拉克与黎凡特伊斯兰国”(ISIS)和“征服叙利亚阵线”(Jabhat Fateh al-Sham)效力，后者的前称是“努斯拉阵线”(Jabhat al-Nusra)，为了撇清与基地组织(al-Qaeda)的关系而更名。
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，伊朗没有允许另一个国家使用其领土作为基地，打击第三国或境外反政府组织的过往记录。
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.
此举出炉之际，在叙利亚冲突中支持相互敌对的势力的莫斯科和华盛顿方面陷入艰难谈判。美国国务卿约翰•克里(John Kerry)上月提议美国与俄军协调打击努斯拉阵线的行动，以换取莫斯科方面迫使叙利亚空军停飞。
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”.
俄罗斯国防部长谢尔盖•绍伊古(Sergei Shoigu)昨日表示，双方正在“一步步接近一个计划——我这里说的只是阿勒颇战场——该计划将真正让我们开始一起为和平而战”。
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.
美国军方发言人克里斯托弗•加弗上校(Colonel Christopher Garver)表示，俄罗斯根据美俄叙利亚飞行安全协议，在行动之前向美方通报了从伊朗起飞的飞行计划。
“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.”
“他们没有影响联军在伊拉克或叙利亚的行动，”他说。“他们通知我方，他们将进入相关空域，我方确保了飞行安全。”
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.
据信，克里姆林宫卷入叙利亚冲突的动机之一，是渴望在具有全球重要性的事务上与华盛顿方面平起平坐。对于俄军在叙利亚军事行动的后勤工作，利用伊朗作为集结地也有优势：相比俄军远程轰炸机此前使用的俄罗斯南方的基地，哈马丹可把距离缩短至三分之一。
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.”
伊朗尚未证实俄罗斯利用其空军基地。但伊朗最高安全官员、最高国家安全委员会(Supreme National Security Council)秘书阿里•沙姆哈尼(Ali Shamkhani)表示：“伊朗与俄罗斯合作打击叙利亚境内的恐怖主义是战略性的，我们为此正在交换（军事）能力和设施。”
