Since Russia began its airstrikes in Syria as of late September 2015, 28.000 fighters of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra have been killed, according to Evgeny Lukyanov, a senior Russian security official.

Prior to Moscow launching its anti-insurgency campaign, some 80,000 ISIS and al-Nusra fighters were present on the battlefields across Syria; this means a third of the jihadist fighting force has effectively been wiped out.

“This is [the result of] our actions together with the Syrian Arab Army” Evgeny Lukyanov said during a security summit in Russia’s Chechen Republic earlier today.

As of 2016, the Russian Air Force has carried out 60 sorties daily on average while the U.S.-led coalition has pulled off just seven airstrikes on average in Syria, according to official statistics of both countries.

This was underlined by Lukyanov who noted: “Well, the U.S. coalition eliminated an additional 5,000 [ISIS militants] in two years”.

Both the U.S. and Russia are conducting airstrikes on Islamist insurgents in Syria; however, the U.S. has been unwiling to target Ahrar Ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, militias which the Kremlin regards as terrorists.

Prior to the Russian involvement in Syria last year, government troops had lost control of Idlib province and the ancient city of Palmyra; the latter city has since been recaptured.