Hezbollah fighters fire at a position of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria's Qalamoun region, on Aug. 26, 2017. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

MOSCOW, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers have struck terrorist facilities with air-to-surface Kh-101 cruise missiles in the Syrian provinces of Deir al-Zour and Idlib, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"Command centers and points of concentration of terrorists and material, as well as ammunition warehouses have been destroyed in a surprise attack," the ministry's spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

The warplanes took off from Engels airfield in Russia's southeastern Saratov region and covered a distance of more than 7,000 km passing over the territories in Iran and Iraq with one in-flight refueling, according to the statement.

During the operation the bombers were accompanied by Russian air force Su-30 and Su-35 fighter planes from Hmeimim air base in Syria.

All targets were located outside settlements and at a safe distance from the areas where U.S. Special Forces and militants of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces operated, Konashenkov said.

On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry denied a media report that Russian warplanes had struck U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led militia in the vicinity of a gas field in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zour province.

Earlier on Tuesday, the ministry denied another report that it had struck civilian settlements in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

The Kh-101 is the latest Russian strategic air-launched cruise missile, manufactured using modern technologies to reduce radar visibility.