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Russia-backed Syrian army carry on anti-ISIS push
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes battled ISIS The Kremlin on Monday also said Russian ground forces did not take part in the Syrian army’s operation to drive ISIS fighters out of Palmyra, but the Russian air force did and it will continue assisting Syrian government troops. "We are talking about air support by our planes. Our armed forces are not conducting any land operations there," Kremlin front man Dmitry Peskov told a teleconference with news hounds. "After the withdrawal of part of our (military) contingent from Syria, air force units remaining at two bases - in Hmeymim and Tartous - will continue fighting terrorist groups ... and will continue supporting the Syrian’s army’s offensive." The loss of Palmyra on Sunday amounts to one of the biggest setbacks for the bad boy group since it declared a caliphate in 2014 across large parts of Syria and Iraq. The Syrian army said the city, home to some of the most extensive ruins of the Roman Empire, would become a "Launchpad" for operations against ISIS strongholds in Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, further east across a vast expanse of desert. Syrian state media said on Monday that Palmyra’s military airport was now open to air traffic after the army cleared the surrounding area of ISIS fighters. There were festivities northeast of Palmyra between ISIS and forces allied to the government, supported by Syrian and Russian air strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war. Air strikes, believed to be Russian, also targeted the road running east out of Palmyra towards Deir al-Zor, it said. Although most of the ISIS force fled Palmyra on Sunday, there were still some hard boyz in the city, the Observatory said. Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman also said most residents fled before the government offensive and it had not heard about any civilian deaths. On Sunday six kabooms were heard triggered by triple boom-mobileings inside the city and its fringes by the bad boy group. Three hard boyz with suicide belts also blew themselves up, inflicting unspecified casualties among army forces and allied troops, the Observatory said. Syrian state-run television broadcast from inside Palmyra, showing empty streets and badly damaged buildings. Abdulrahman said 417 ISIS fighters were so far known to have died in the campaign to retake Palmyra, while 194 people were killed on the Syrian government side. Posted by: Fred 2016-03-29 |
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