Dozens of terrorists killed in joint Syria-Russia airstrikes in Idlib
A large number of foreign-sponsored militants have been killed and wounded after Syrian and Russian warplanes carried out a series of joint airstrikes on terrorist bases and arms depots in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing a statement issued by the Syrian Ministry of Defense on Monday, reported that the aerial raids were in retaliation for recent terrorist attacks on the positions of Syrian army troops in the rural districts of Idlib and the neighboring province of Hama.
The statement said that the joint Syrian and Russian airstrikes destroyed the headquarters and weapons caches of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the so-called Ansar al-Tawhid (Supporters of Monotheism) Takfiri terrorists.
Dozens of militants, among them high-profile commanders, were among the fatalities, it added.
Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Vadim Kulit, deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, said on Monday that Russian military aircraft had launched airstrikes on a stronghold and two command centers of HTS terrorists.
He added that the slain terrorists used to organize and then stage attacks on the positions of Syrian government forces and civilian infrastructure from the targeted sites.
Kulit called on militant commanders to refrain from any escalatory measure and instead tread the path towards a peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict.
The senior Russian military official noted that 18 violations were also recorded in the area of the US al-Tanf military base, involving nine flights by the unmanned aerial vehicles of the coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.
Russia has been providing Syrian forces with military assistance in the ongoing battles across the conflict-plagued Arab country.
The Russian assistance, which began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, has proved effective as Syrians continue to recapture key areas from remnants of the Daesh terrorist group and other foreign-backed terrorist factions.
