Is this in support of Syrian ops? Interesting. I looked at a chart and determined that they have to overfly Iraq, or Turkey, to get there. Have the weird turned pro? Has Erdogan decided to let Vlads lads fly over Turkey to get to Syria?
Who owns the airspace over Iraq? Is the Iraqi government cool with the Backfires overflying?
Are the Americans/Western airspace folks in the loop so that deconfliction is available?
We do indeed live in interesting times.