Russian air force to resume operations from Iran’s Hamadan airbase

Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense and security committee of Russia's parliament, said Wednesday that his country has reached understandings with Tehran regarding the use by Russian warplanes of Iran's Hamadan airbase to conduct bombing missions against targets in Syria. The understandings are intended to provide an alternate base from which to operate if Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier is sent to a different theater of operations, such as Libya, as DEBKAfile reported this week. Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said earlier that his country would consider allowing Russia to conduct attacks against Syrian rebel targets from the airbase, located about 750 kilometers from Syria's eastern border.