A newborn girl born in Moscow was named Syria after her father's military assignment destination, local Moskva news agency reported Wednesday.
“A new name — Syria — emerged in the capital in the third week of November,” an official from Analytics Center, Moscow's official statistics information institution told the news agency.
The baby's father serves in the military and has been sent on a mission in Syria, officials said, Moskva reported. Other geographical names given to newborns in Moscow in recent years are Russia, Byzantine, India, Chelsea and Sebastopol.
The Russian air force began a military operation in Syria on Sept. 30. The military action is supported by 53 percent of Russians, the independent Levada Center pollster reported in October.
Seventy percent of respondents said they believe air strikes are effective, while only 48 percent of respondents said Russia's air force was hitting Islamic State positions. 13 percent said they were bombing Syrian opposition targets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's approval rating has soared to nearly 90 percent since the start of the Syrian campaign, according to a study released by state-run pollster VTsIOM in October.
