Russia’s air forces carried out 164 sorties in Syria in the past three days, hitting 556 targets, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi, a department chief at Russia’s Defence Ministry, told a news briefing on Monday (December 28).
“As of December 25, 164 sorties have been carried out hitting 556 terrorist targets in provinces of Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa,” Rudskoi official said.
He also said that Russian aviation supported advance towards Palmira by the Free Syrian Army.
“Besides our aviation carried out 17 strikes on ISIS (positions) to support Free Syrian Army units ‘Desert lions’ and ‘Kalamun’ which are advancing towards Palmyra,” Rudskoi said.
Russia began a major aerial campaign on Sept. 30 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its ally, who earlier in the year suffered a series of setbacks including the loss of Idlib province and other areas of crucial strategic importance.
The United Nations currently aims to bring together Syria’s warring parties on Jan. 25 in Geneva to begin talks to try to end nearly five years of civil war.
Source: Reuters
