Moscow, SANA-Russian Defense Ministry reaffirmed the continued support of the Russian Aerospace Force for the Syrian Arab Army in its war against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations.

Head of the Main Operations Department at Russia’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi said on Friday that the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Aerospace Force inflicted heavy losses upon ISIS during the liberation of Tadmur (Palmyra) city, killing at least 1000 terrorists and destroying 19 tanks, 37 infantry fighting vehicles and more than 100 other vehicles.

He pointed out that the Syrian Army extended its control over more than 60 km on Thursday before it liberates the entire city of Palmyra, pointing out that the Russian Aerospace and Special Operations Forces have made a considerable contribution to the defeat of ISIS in Palmyra and the area surrounding it.

Rudskoi stressed that the success has been achieved in Palmyra despite the fact that the number of militants had been growing as ISIS members were leaving Mosul and Raqqa.

“Let me stress that no airstrikes were delivered in the area of historical monuments in ancient Palmyra to preserve the historical heritage, which terrorists of the ISIS had no time to destroy.”

He added that Russian demining experts will participate soon with the Syrian engineering units, which began Thursday to clear Palmyra from IEDs and mines.

Rudskoi presented the results of Russian military operations against the terrorist organizations in Syria over the past month, indicating that the Russian aviation carried out 991 combat sorties during which, it destroyed 2306 targets for terrorists, including the command sites and arms and ammunition depots.

Rodskoi stated that Russian aviation destroyed 278 targets for ISIS terrorists in al-Bab area, including warehouses and gatherings of armored vehicles as part of its support for the operations of the Syrian army in its war against the terrorist organization in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

He pointed out that the Syrian army continues its operations successfully to the east of al-Bab city, restoring control over 36 towns in an area of 400 square kilometers during the past ten days.

The Russian military official said that last Tuesday a Russian jet targeted a site for Jabhat al-Nusra in Rasm al-Ais area to the south of Aleppo with two guided bombs, killing 67 terrorists, including 19 field commanders of the North Caucasus and Central Asia.

Manar/Ghossoun