Alalam - Syria
In a statement released on Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Tupolev Tu-95 jets had taken off from Russia and flown over Iran and Iraq to get to Syria’s Raqqah, where they targeted Daesh positions “using X-101 cruise missiles.”
The Russian warplanes successfully destroyed the terrorists’ bases and training camps as well as a Daesh command center, the statement said.
It further said that Sukhoi Su-30CM and Su-35 fighter jets based at the Hmeymim air base, in Syria’s Latakia Province, provided air cover for the Raqqah operation.
All Russian aircraft returned safely to their bases after the Friday mission, the statement added.
Russia launched its campaign against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria at the Damascus government’s request in September 2015. Its airstrikes have helped Syrian forces advance counterterrorism operations against foreign-backed militants wreaking havoc in the Middle Eastern state since 2011.
Daesh ringleaders fleeing stronghold in Syria: Pentagon
In a separate development on Friday, the US Defense Department said that Daesh ringleaders were fleeing Raqqah amid advances by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed militant group comprised mostly of Syrian Kurds.
“We are starting to see now that a lot of senior ISIS leaders, a lot of their bureaucrats... are beginning the process of leaving Raqqah,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis, using an English acronym for Daesh.
“They have definitely taken note of the fact that the end is near in Raqqah,” he said, describing the Daesh withdrawal as “very organized, orderly.”