2731133 31.10.2015 Многофункциональный истребитель-бомбардировщик Воздушно-космических сил РФ Су-34 взлетает с авиабазы “Хмеймим” в Сирии. Дмитрий Виноградов/РИА Новости
The Russian Air Force in Syria has made 137 sorties over last three days, hitting 448 infrastructure facilities belonging to Islamic State and other terrorists groups in the country, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
“Over the last three days, Russian jets made 137 sorties in the Syrian Arab Republic and destroyed 448 facilities of terrorist infrastructure in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Latakia, Raqqa, Hama and Homs,” Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, was cited as saying by Tass.
In Latakia province, the Russian warplanes struck a mortar position of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group.
“A direct hit led to the destruction of four mortars and an ammunition depot,” Konashenkov said.
More Jabhat al-Nusra facilities were targeted in Hama province, where a terrorist repair shop with armored vehicles inside was destroyed.
“An airstrike by a Su-24M bomber destroyed a hangar with four tanks and one APC inside,” the Defense Ministry spokesman said.
In Idlib, the Russian military jets leveled a major command center of Jabhat al-Nusra, which coordinated the terrorists’ actions in both Idlib and Aleppo provinces.
“In the suburbs of Zerba, in the Idlib Province, a large Jabhat al-Nusra command center was destroyed. The facility was established over the course of the last three weeks and it was well camouflaged,” Konashenkov said.
After the drones carried out reconnaissance, the Su-24 plane struck the facility with a guided KAb-500 bomb, he added.
Russian airstrikes have targeted an Islamic State munitions warehouse near the Syrian capital, Damascus, which hosted makeshift unguided missiles.
“In the area of Mont Mgar, Damascus Province, Islamic State’s warehouse of unguided missiles was destroyed. That warehouse had regularly supplied militants with unguided missiles that were used to systematically bombard the residential areas of Damascus,” Konashenkov said.
According to the spokesman, major arms caches belonging to Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists were also hit in the Raqqah and Homs provinces.
The intensity of Russian sorties was lower in the past few days, as some planes were assigned to reconnaissance tasks, Konashenkov said.
They gathered more information on terrorist targets, the locations which were provide to Russia by representatives of the Syrian opposition, the information center in Baghdad and the commanders of the Syrian army, he added.
“The intensity of our air group’s sorties has been below the normal level in Syria in the past few days. However, the number of targets per flight increased,” he said.
The massive Russian air campaign has led to “significant changes” in the tactics employed by the terrorists in all parts of Syria, the spokesman stressed.
“Armed groups aren’t acting as blatantly as they used to even a month ago,” Konashenkov said.
“They’re constantly changing routes for arms and ammunition supply, which are mainly carried out at night with all the necessary masking,” he added.
According to the spokesman, the terrorists are trying to implement so-called mobile defense tactics, regularly relocating their positions “in an attempt to hide from strikes, by both Syrian government troops and Russian air forces.”
Russia began carrying out daily airstrikes against Islamic State and other terror groups in Syria at the end of September after a request from the country’s president, Bashar Assad.