Russian Military Says Mission Accomplished, ISIS Defeated in Syria

In a sharply contrasting statement from an earlier one from the US that they’d done little in combating ISIS, the Russia’s military said on Thursday it had accomplished its mission of defeating Islamic State in Syria. The spokesman for the Russian Federation said that their bombers had used, “unprecedented force” in the last battles of the campaign to push forces from the Islamic State out of Syria and that there were no remaining settlements there under the group’s control.

 “The mission to defeat bandit units of the Islamic State terrorist organization on the territory of Syria, carried out by the armed forces of the Russian Federation, has been accomplished,” Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi, head of the general staff’s operations, said on Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Syrian government forces were now combing and de-mining areas where Islamic State had had their strongholds, he said.

“The final stage of the defeat of the terrorists was accompanied by the unprecedented deployment and intense combat use of Russia’s air force,” he said. The air strikes included 14 sorties of groups of long-range bombers from Russia made in the past month, he said.

The Russian spokesman made no mention of the US-led coalition that partnered with Kurdish fighters who had done much of the fighting. The US and Russians have been critical of each other’s efforts. He only added that Syrian forces loyal to President Assad were busy “preserving cease fires and restoring peaceful life” to the region.

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