AhlulBayt News Agency - The chief of the main operations department of the Russian General Staff, Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy, said on Wednesday that the Russian Air Force has destroyed more than 200 terrorist-controlled oil facilities and 2,000+ transport vehicles since the genesis of their counter-terrorism operations in Syria.
“The air task force has destroyed over 200 facilities of oil extraction, refining and pumping on the territories controlled by terrorist groupings in Syria, as well as more than 2,000 means for the delivery of oil products,” Rudskoi said at the 5th Moscow conference on international security.
Russia’s primary focus in Syria has been to tackle the terrorist groups wrecking havoc in the region.
One of the ways they have combated terrorist groups like Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) has been through the constant targeting of their economic assets.
The Russian Air Force has effectively obstructed much of ISIS’ oil trade in Syria; this has caused several economic woes for the terrorist group because they heavily rely on this commodity for revenue.
“The resources base of the illegal armed formations of the ISIL and al-Nusra Front (Qaeda branch in the Levant) has been undermined. The terrorist groupings have lost their main source of revenues from the illegal sale of oil, which, in turn, has limited their possibilities for the purchase of armaments, ammunition and the provision of money allowance to militants,” Rudskoi said.
Lt. General Rudskoy concluded by stating that the Russian Air Force has conducted 9,500 combat sorties, destroying over 29,000 terrorist targets across the country.
Syrian provinces of Damascus, Hama, Homs, Latakia province largely freed from terrorists
According to Rudskoy, the major parts of Syrian provinces of Damascus, Hama and Homs have been liberated from terrorists along with the Latakia province.
"Illegal armed groups have been ousted from Latakia. Coastal areas of the province, home to a majority of the Syrian population, have been completely liberated from terrorists. Road traffic between Damascus and Aleppo has been restored and the Kweires air base besieged by militants for over three years has been unblocked," Rudskoi said at the 5th Moscow International Security Conference. "Most parts of the Hama, Homs and Damascus provinces in central Syria were recaptured from illegal armed groups."
Syrian governmental forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra and the city of Al-Qaryatayn, a stronghold for communications between the country’s south and north, he said.
"Russian air strikes have diminished the terrorist groups’ combat potential many times and they lost the initiative and wound down offensive operations," he said.
"That provided Syrian governmental detachments with an opportunity of recapturing a strategic initiative and of launching an offensive along all directions," Rudskoi said. "Thus, Syria’s Armed Forces recaptured about 500 residential localities covering an area of over 10,000 square kilometers.".
No civilian casualties
Sergey Rudskoy also claims that not a single airstrike delivered by the Russian aviation group since the beginning of the operation in Syria has caused destruction of civilian facilities or civilian casualties in the country.
Previously, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces Viktor Bondarev made a similar statement. According to him, during the operation in Syria the Russian aviation "there was not a single bombardment that missed the target." The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly said that the airstrikes are delivered only after thorough checks of the targeted facilities.
"During the Russian air operation in Syria not a single strike was made that would cause the destruction of civilian objects or civilian casualties," Rudskoi said at the 5th Moscow International Security Conference.
According to him, the Russian military have thwarted "numerous attempts by the militants to provoke strikes on civilian targets." "According to the terrorists’ plans, casualties among civilians were to discredit the Russian Aerospace Forces, cause a negative reaction of the international community and force the Russian leadership to stop the fight against terrorist groups in Syria," the official said. He said that the Russian Defense Ministry has had to face all the time "unfounded accusations" or "information attacks."
Russia joined the operation against terrorists in Syria on September 30, 2015 at the request of Syrian president Bashar Assad. Ceasefire took effect in Syria on February 27, 2016. Russia withdrew the basic contingent of its forces from Syria from March 15 but its air task force continues delivering strikes against terrorists.
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