RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: ISIS CONTROLS LESS THAN 5% OF SYRIAN TERRITORY

FILE IMAGE: Russian Special Operations Forces troops are in Syria

The Russian military announced on October 24 that ISIS now controls less than 5% of the Syrian territory.

“Today, ISIL [ISIS] controls less than 5%, before the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, ISIL controlled more than 70% of Syria’s territory,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said during the fourth meeting of defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and dialogue partners, according to TASS. “Some 998 towns and settlements have been liberated, and the liberated territory reaches 503,223 square kilometers. Many militants have been killed. The process of restoring peaceful life in the country has started.”

According to the statement, about 2,500 settlements across Syria have joined reconciliation effort thanks to the Russian center for reconciliation of warring parties. Since 2015, 1.126m people have returned home.

Shoigu added that the ISIS oil revenue has decreased almost to zero. Before 2015, the group was gaining about $3bln per year from selling oil on Syria’s territory.

Thanks to efforts of the Russian Aerospace Forces, about 948 training camps, 666 factories and workshops for manufacturing ammunition and 1,500 pieces of military equipment have been destroyed.

Furthermore, Russian forces destroyed over 200 oil and gas facilities, 184 oil refineries, 126 fuel pumping stations and about 4,000 petrol tank vehicles.

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