Russian servicemen prepare a Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jet before a departure for a mission at the Hmeimin military base in the Latakia province, in the northwest of Syria, on December 16, 2015. (AFP)
The Russian air force has carried out a strike on an al-Qaeda run prison killing around 60 people in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, a UK-based monitoring group says.
According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights(SOHR), a jail and a religious court belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front were hit in the town of Maarat al-Numan on Saturday.
SOHR claims that at least 29 terrorists and 21 civilians were killed as four missiles hit the buildings in the militant-held city.
Russia launched its first airstrikes against the Takfiri terrorists in Syria on September 30 at the request of the Syrian government.
Syrian forces have cut off foreign-backed militants’ key supply routes by taking control of several villages in the northern areas of Latakia Province.
Meanwhile, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported that the villages of Rweiset al-Qamoua, al-Mgheiriyeh, Hawsh al-Mgheiriyeh, Rweiset Bani Jazi and Kedin were liberated.
Syrian forces have been battling militants, particularly Daesh, on different fronts throughout Syria since March 2011, when the foreign-sponsored militancy began. Over 250,000 people have been killed over the past few years of turmoil.