Russia has launched missiles at targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea in the first major combined assault across the air and ground in Moscow's escalating campaign in the war-torn country.

The missiles were aimed at Isis targets, according to the Kremlin.

Russian warships launch first anti-IS strikes

They were deployed as Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, started a ground offensive in rebel-held areas where jihadists from the so-called Islamic State are thought not to have a presence.

The Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Russian television that 26 missile strikes were launched on Wednesday from four warships, destroying all 11 intended targets, in an attack which adds a new level of complexity and violence to the Syrian conflict.

A warship of the Caspian Flotilla launching missiles from the deployment area in the south-western Caspian Sea (EPA)

Launched from the Caspian sea, which lies between countries including Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran, the missiles flew approximately 1,400km (900miles), according to a Russian officer.

Mr Shoigu said no strikes were targeted at civilian areas.

Andrei Kartapolov, of the Russian General Staff, later told Russian news agencies that Moscow had attacked using warships in order to cast the “over unpopulated areas”.

Russia missile strikes from Caspian Sea (The Independent)

Dramatic footage of the missiles being launched and lighting up the night sky were broadcast on Russian television.

A military source quoted by Syrian state television said that Russian ships targeted 11 Isis positions in Raqqa, Aleppo, and Idlib, destroying bomb factories, command posts, weapon supply depots, and "terrorist training centres".

The announcements were met with deep scepticism, as Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu claimed only two out of 57 Russian air strikes in Syria hit Isis targets.

The rest, he said, targeted ‘moderate opposition groups’, according to the Daily Sabah.

Airstrikes on Syria (The Independent)

Describing Russia's strategy "tragically flawed", US Defence Secretary Ash Carter he once again accused Moscow of deviating from its pledge to only target Isis. The Russian defence ministry hit back by launching the same accusation at the US air force.

A source from British military told The Independent that one in 20 missiles have struck Isis targets.

However, President Vladmir Putin later said it was too early to address the results of Russian military actions in Syria, and ordered Mr Shoigu to continue co-operating with the US, Turkey Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iran on the conflict.

Moscow unexpectedly started an air campaign in Syria in late September, assuring that it would only target Isis. However, it is feared that the Russian military is also attacking groups opposed to Mr Assad's government, who the UN has accused of carrying out war crimes against its own Syrian citizens.

Russia's action, largely aimed at central and north-western Syria which are the gateways to Mr Assad’s Damascan strongholds, appeared to have given Mr Assad's government confidence to regain lost ground.

Some commentators have taken an apocalyptic view of what lies ahead.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst in Moscow, forecast “ right now they are just softening up the opposition. Then will come the ground offensive, it will be us in the air and Syria, Iran and Hezbullah on the ground. It’s going to be a terrible bloodbath, tens of thousands will be killed and the consequences for Europe will be even more refugees.”

Under the cover of Russian airstrikes on Wednesday, the Syrian army and allied fighters carried out ground attacks on insurgent positions.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a government offensive began on four fronts early on Wednesday in the north-western provinces of Idlib and neighbouring Hama.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman described it as “the most intense fighting in months.”

The group, which has a network of activists in Syria, said that government forces are focusing on the town of Morek, on the highway which connects Damascus with the northern city of Aleppo which has been under rebel control since 2012.

In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Show all 19 1 /19 In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrian boys cry following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian defense ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Konashenkov strongly warned the United States against striking Syrian government forces and issued a thinly-veiled threat to use Russian air defense assets to protect them AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Syrians wait to receive treatment at a hospital following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Alepp Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia. Antonov said the Russian air strikes in Syria have killed about 35,000 militants, including about 2,700 residents of Russia AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Jameel Mustafa Habboush, receives oxygen from civil defence volunteers, known as the white helmets, as they rescue him from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes on the rebel-held Fardous neighbourhood of the northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo Getty In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civil defence members rest amidst rubble in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A girl carrying a baby inspects damage in a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force in the town of Douma, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members look for survivors at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Civilians and civil defence members carry an injured woman on a stretcher at a site damaged after Russian air strikes on the Syrian rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria Reuters In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Volunteers from Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, help civilians after Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria The aftermath of Russian airstrike in Talbiseh, Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Smoke billows from buildings in Talbiseh, in Homs province, western Syria, after airstrikes by Russian warplanes AP In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate. Russia's KAB-500s bombs completely destroy the Liwa al-Haqq command unit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria Â© TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia claimed it hit eight Isis targets, including a "terrorist HQ and co-ordination centre" that was completely destroyed In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A video grab taken from the footage made available on the Russian Defence Ministry's official website, purporting to show an airstrike in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria A release from the Russian defence ministry purportedly showing targets in Syria being hit In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Russia launched air strikes in war-torn Syria, its first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979. Russian warplanes carried out strikes in three Syrian provinces along with regime aircraft as Putin seeks to steal US President Barack Obama's thunder by pushing a rival plan to defeat Isis militants in Syria In pictures: Russian air strikes in Syria Caspian Flotilla of the Russian Navy firing Kalibr cruise missiles against remote Isis targets in Syria, a thousand kilometres away. The targets include ammunition factories, ammunition and fuel depots, command centres, and training camps Â© TASS/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

A total of 37 Russian air raids have taken place in the area since Moscow launched its operation a week ago, according to the observatory. Two helicopters believed to be Russian were seen flying at a low atltitude in Morek. However it remains unclear whether they were owned by the Syrian army as it has Russian-made helicopters in its arsenal.

Major Jamil al-Saleh the leader of the Tajummu Alezzah US-backed rebel group, also confirmed the ground offensive but said it had come from three fronts, including Latamneh, north of the Hama province.

Matthew Rycroft, the UK's UN ambassador said Russia suport for Mr Assad Syria will merely strengthen Isis, and force much of Syria's Sunni population “into the arms” of the extremist group.

He added that anyone who has looked at a map of where the Russian military has targeted will see that thei strikes are largely “are against what we consider the moderate opposition to Assad, the very people that we need to be part of the future of Syria”.

The missiles launched from the Caspian sea came a day after Mr Shoigu said that Russia had called on foreign military attaches to supply Moscow with intelligence on Isis positions, as a US-led coaltion carries out separate missions in Syria and Iraq.

Mr Shoigu also said Russia was prepared to a document with the US to coordinate actions in Syria.