MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. The Russian air task force in Syria has focused its efforts on eliminating terrorists in the northern part of the province of Aleppo and the country’s eastern districts, Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Department Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov said on Thursday.
"As for the operations of the Russian air task force, its basic efforts are currently focused on eliminating the objectives of ISIL [the former name of the Islamic State terrorist organization outlawed in Russia] in the eastern districts of Syria and in the northern part of the province of Aleppo," Gadzhimagomedov said during a Moscow-Astana-Damascus video link.
Astana mechanisms
The Astana consultations on the Syrian settlement have yielded a mechanism for the exchange of forcibly kept persons, first of all women and children, a top-ranking Russian military official said.
"The uneasy talks today finally yielded a mechanism for the exchange of forcibly kept persons, first of all women and children," Sergei Afanasyev, a deputy chief of the main operations directorate of the Russian General Staff, said at a Moscow-Astana-Damascus videconference.
"Apart from that, the regulations on the joint task force that were endorsed today were supplemented with a provision on the exchange of the bodies of those killed. We believe this step will help build up measures of trust," he said.
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