Russia has reportedly launched its first airstrikes in Syria, which the country claimed were against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The latest development marks the first significant military action outside the former Soviet Union after the end of the cold war.

The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the military aircraft targeted eight ISIS positions, including arms, transportation, communications and control positions.

"Fighting ISIL without pursuing a parallel political transition only risks escalating the civil war in Syria, and with it, the very extremism and instability that Moscow claims to be concerned about and aspire to fighting."

During his recent speech United Nations general assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin had called for an international coalition against terrorism to fight ISIS.

Meanwhile, the US countered the Russian claim accusing that the airstrikes were aimed to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

According to US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, the recent actions from Russia are intensifying the instability in Syria and making the civil war in the country more vicious.

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Carter said: "Fighting ISIL without pursuing a parallel political transition only risks escalating the civil war in Syria, and with it, the very extremism and instability that Moscow claims to be concerned about and aspire to fighting.

"So that approach is tantamount to pouring gasoline on the fire.

"And I would hope Russia would join us in pursuing these objectives."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also condemned the Russian warplanes for targeting the southeastern countryside of Hama and the northern countryside of Homs in its first airstrikes inside Syrian territories.

In a a statement on its website, the Britain-based monitoring group said: "the strikes did not target, as Russia said, the ‘Islamic state’ controlled areas, but targeted areas controlled by the rebel battalions who are working to establish a democratic Syria, in addition there are headquarters for the Islamic movement of Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in the Levant) there."