Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia launched coordinated missile strikes against rebels in Syria on Tuesday.

Russia launched coordinated missile strikes against rebels in Syria on Tuesday and Moscow for the first time used its only aircraft carrier in combat, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

Shoigu said a frigate had fired cruise missiles, jets from the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, had been involved in action, and missiles had been loosed from a mobile land-based missile system inside Syria.

Reporting to President Vladimir Putin in southern Russia, Shoigu said Russia had targeted sites associated with ISIS and the Nusra Front, which has changed its name to Fateh al-Sham, in the Homs and Idlib provinces.

“We carried out exhaustive advance research on all targets,” said Shoigu. “We are talking about warehouses with ammunition, terrorist training centers … and factories.”

Shoigu said the strikes would continue.

Also, Russia’s Defence Ministry has said that Russian missile strikes did not hit the Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, according to Interfax news agency.

The ministry said Russian and Syrian jets had not bombed Aleppo for the last 28 days, Interfax reported.

Syrian state television said Syria’s air force carried out strikes on Aleppo on Tuesday. Russia says its air force is for now honoring a unilateral moratorium on hitting rebel targets inside Aleppo.

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