Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says almost 88,000 foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists have been killed in Syria ever since Moscow launched its counter-terrorism airstrikes against militant redoubts in the Arab country more than three years ago.

“Over the course of the operation, a total of more than 87,500 militants have been eliminated, and 1,411 settlements in addition to more than 95 percent of Syria's territory have been liberated,” Shoigu said at the fifth council of defense ministers of ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners in Singapore on Saturday. “Key settlements have been liberated and main communications have been brought into operation. Syrian armed forces currently control territory, where 90 percent of the population resides,” he added.

Russian jets have been carrying out air raids against targets belonging to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group and those of other terror outfits inside Syria at the Damascus government’s formal request since September 2015.

The airstrikes have helped Syrian forces advance against anti-Damascus militants, who have been wreaking havoc in the Arab country since March 2011.

On August 22, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated that Moscow had dispatched 63,012 troops to Syria over the course of its involvement in the conflict-plagued Arab country.

The ministry said 25,738 ranking officers and 434 generals as well as 4,349 artillery and rocket specialists were among the troops sent to Syria.

It added that the Russian personnel have "received combat experience" in the war-torn country.

The ministry further noted that its forces had tested 231 types of modern weaponry, including aircraft, surface-to-air systems and cruise missiles, in Syria.

Death toll from US-led airstrikes against Syria’s Dayr al-Zawr rises to 62

Meanwhile, the death toll from separate aerial assaults conducted by the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr has reached 62.

Local sources, requesting not to be named, told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Saturday that an airstrike targeted the village of al-Susah on the outskirts of Abu Kamal city, leaving at least 15 civilians, including women and children, dead and many more wounded.

Thirty-seven civilians were also killed and tens of others injured when a US-led aerial attack pounded Osman ibn Affan Mosque.

Separately, at least 10 civilians were killed and many more wounded as US-led military aircraft struck Ammar bin Yasser Mosque in al-Bubadran village.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of achieving its declared goal of destroying Daesh.

Addressing world leaders at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 29, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the US-led coalition had been doing everything it could since the onset of its airstrikes but combat terrorism and militant outfits wreaking havoc in the Arab country.

Muallem described the military alliance as “illegitimate” and censured the “hegemonic policies” pursued by certain countries against the Damascus government.

Exposure to white phosphorous can cause extensive and deep second- and third-degree burns, while inhalation of the fume released by it may result in illness or death.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.