KUBINKA/Moscow Region/, August 25. /TASS/. During the operation in Syria, Russia’s Aerospace Forces delivered around 90,000 strikes against terrorists, chief of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi said.
"Since the beginning of the military operation, the Aerospace Forces have made more than 28,000 sorties, delivering around 90,000 airstrikes," Rudskoy told a roundtable at the Army-2017 military and technical forum.
The general stressed that the Russian military campaign dealt a heavy blow to the terrorists’ control system and infrastructure. "The main routes of supplying gunmen with weapons and ammunition have been blocked. Terrorist organizations have been deprived of financial support from illegal sales of oil products," Rudskoi said.
During the operation to destroy crucial terrorist facilities, the Aerospace Forces used cruise missiles from warships, submarines and strategic missile carriers with the range of up to 1,500 kilometers and also aircraft of long-range bomber aviation, he said.
"Special operations forces play an important role in destroying armed groups. They perform tasks of destroying leaders of terrorists, eliminating critical facilities of the enemy and adjusting strikes of our aviation," Rudskoi said.
Russian military advisers also have a significant role in helping the command during planning combat operations, training military formations and units of the Syrian army, he said.
Russian military assist in liberation of Syria’s 78,000 square kilometers
Actions of the Russian military in Syria assisted the Syrian armed forces in reversing the situation and liberating from terrorists Syria’s 78,000 square kilometers, including Aleppo, Palmyra and the Latakia Province, according to Rudskoi.
"During the operation of the Russian Aerospace Force, the territory controlled by the governmental forces, grew by more than four times - from 19 to 78 thousand square kilometers," he said.
"The forces have defeated the bandit groups in Hama and Homs, the Latakia Province is liberated fully from the terrorists, the world cultural heritage monument Palmyra is liberated, like the Aleppo city, which is Syria’s second capital," he said. "We have unblocked the main transport route between Damascus and the country’s north."
Russian, Syria military focus on defeating IS near Deir ez-Zor
The Russian grouping in Syria, jointly with the Syrian governmental forces, focus on defeat of the IS (Islamic State, outlawed in Russia) near Deir ez-Zor, according to Rudskoi.
"Currently, the main efforts of the governmental forces and the grouping of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces are focused on defeat of the last stronghold of the IS armed groups near Deir ez-Zor," he said. "By de-blocking that city, we shall finalize defeat of the most capable units of the IS terrorist group in Syria."
To that area now the terrorists are pulling the remaining forces, he said.
"We have information about militants from Mosul, who have relocated there, as well as the biggest part of the capable terrorists from Raqqa."
"Units of the Syrian armed forces and militia with support from the Aerospace Force develop a quick offensive on Deir ez-Zor from three directions," the general added.
Near Akerbat, the military have encircled a group of terrorists and an operation is underway to destroy the terrorists, he continued.
"After the strikes of the Russian Aerospace Force and the offensive of the governmental forces near Palmyra, the strategically important Es Sukhne settlement has been liberated," he said.