Moscow/New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS): The Russian parliament on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to the country's military to launch air strikes on terrorist locations in Syria.

The upper chamber of the Russian parliament unanimously gave formal consent to President Vladimir Putin to use the nation's military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In New Delhi, the Russian embassy said in a statement that it has informed India's external affairs ministry that in accordance with the request of President Assad "for providing military assistance in fighting against ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria, the Russian Federation begins air and rocket attacks on terrorist locations on all territory of the Syrian Arab Republic on September 30, 2015".

Russia has since the past few weeks increased its military presence in Syria, supplying weaponry and tactical support to tackle the increasing presence of the Islamic State. Russia is a strong supporter of the Assad regime and has faced-off with the US, which wants Assad to go.