Tue Oct 13, 2015 18:46:51
Moscow says the Takfiri ISIS terrorist group has suffered major losses in Russia’s ongoing airstrikes against its positions in Syria, highlighting that a great proportion of munitions used by the militants has been destroyed.
“Russian airstrikes resulted in the elimination of the majority of ISIS ammunition, heavy vehicles and equipment,” the Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday.
“According to radio intercepts in the Hama and Homs provinces, the militants experience an acute shortage of ammunition for small arms and grenade launchers. Some field commanders have stated demands to their leadership that if they do not receive arms in the near future, they will withdraw their groups from the combat zone,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov also told reporters in the capital, Moscow.
“Today, there are no longer caravans [transporting weapons], but maneuverable groups of off-road vehicles, usually moving at night with cargo for terrorists,” the official added.
Konashenkov said a ramp-up in Russia’s airstrikes in Syria has forced ISIS to “set in motion the entire logistics network available to the terrorists in order to transport ammunition and fuel from the Raqqa Province.”
Russian twin-engined, twin-seat Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighter jets recently carried out a precision strike near the city of Latamna, Syria’s western-central province of Hama, completely destroying an arms depot used by the terrorists.
Konashenkov added that Russia’s Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes have also struck a convoy carrying fuel and weapons destined for ISIS in the northwestern province of Aleppo.
“A fuel tanker, three trucks carrying ammunition and two cars equipped with large-caliber submachine guns escorting them were eliminated,” the Russian Defense Ministry official said.
Sorties Continue to Target ISIS Positions
The Russian military aircraft have carried out 88 sorties on 86 terrorist positions in the provinces of Raqqa, Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo over the past 24 hours, Konashenkov said Tuesday.
Russia began its own military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria; Press TV reported.
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