MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. Syrian army is going ahead with offensive operations on all fronts, achieving the greatest success in Aleppo and Latakia provinces and also in the suburbs of Damascus, the head of the main operations directorate of the Russian General Staff, Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy, has told the media.
"With Russia’s air support government troops are continuing offensive operations against militant groups in all directions. The greatest success has been achieved in Aleppo and Latakia provinces and in the suburbs of Damascus," Rudskoy said.
Last Friday, too, Rudskoy said that government forces and "patriotically minded opposition" were pushing ahead with a successful offensive.
Syrian army liberates two settlements in Aleppo Governorate
The Syrian army supported by Russian warplanes has liberated in the past few days two settlements and captured a major height in Aleppo Governorate, Rudskoy added.
He said military had sizably expanded the security zone around the Kweires air base.
"Over the past few days, two settlements north of the airfield have been liberated," Rudskoy said, adding that a tactical height had been captured as well.
Syrian troops broke the blockade of Kweires early in November. Defensive warfare at the airbase, surrounded by units of Islamic State, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia, continued for more than two years.
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Syrian army establish control over strategic heights in Latakia province
Syria’s government troops backed by Russian warplanes have established control over the left bank of the river el Kebir from the Turkish-Syrian border to the settlement of Soraf and have taken three important heights in the province of Latakia, Rudskoy went on to say.
He said Syrian troops were staging an offensive in the northward and eastward directions in the province of Latakia.
"Control has been established over the left bank of the river el Kebir from the Turkish-Syrian border to the settlement of Soraf. Three important heights have been taken under control in Sirmaniyah and Kabana directions," he said.
Russia’s aerospace forces launched pinpoint strikes against the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra targets in Syria on September 30 after the Federation Council upper parliament house unanimously approved President Vladimir Putin’s request for the use of the armed forces against terrorists in Syria.
Air strikes are delivered at military hardware, communications centers, transport vehicles, munitions depots and other terrorist infrastructure facilities. The military operation is conducted at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In mid-November, the Russian military said they would concentrate strikes on oil production, storage, transportation and refining facilities controlled by the Islamic State and declared a "free hunt" for oil tank trucks of terrorists.