Russian war planes have bombed a training camp in Syria where foreign instructors trained potential suicide bombers, the Russian defense ministry said. It was one of 49 terrorist targets hit by the Russian Air Forces over the day, RT reports.
“Not far from Salma in Latakia province, a Su-24M bomber delivered a strike at a building, which was used as a terrorist training ground. According to intelligence, there were Islamic State (IS) foreign instructors, who were training people, including suicide bombers, for guerilla warfare in areas liberated by the Syrian army,” ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said.
He said the facility had its own explosives workshop, which was also destroyed by an air strike (watch the video clip).
Russian war planes conducted 36 combat sorties Saturday and attacked 49 militant targets in Syria, including command points, weapons workshops, firing positions, depots and fortified bunkers.
IS, which suffered serious damage from Russian bombings, is working to rebuild its infrastructure, he said.
“The militants’ new tactics is to spread their supply and command facilities, but it does not work. All their new infrastructure objects are being identified and destroyed,” he said.
The civilian population in the areas under terrorist group’s control are aiding the Russian air strikes by providing intelligence about IS to the Syrian government.
“This information is double-checked by our aviation group with various technical means of reconnaissance. Following this, a decision is made on which objects we should target,” he said.
Russia is providing air support to Syrian government troops, which are currently undertaking an offensive to retake villages and cities captured by terrorist groups. Moscow says its goal is to stabilize the situation in the country enough to allow political dialogue between Damascus and moderate opposition to start.
Senior Al-Qaeda leader killed
A source revealed that al-Nasr along with two other Takfiri terorist group’s members, Saudi Abdul Malik al-Jazrawi and Moroccan Abu Yasir al-Maghrebi, was reportedly killed in an air strike.
Al-Nusrah Front released a photo showing a car struck by an air strike in Al-Dana, West of Aleppo. The terrorist group also published a picture of the bodies of Takfiri militants, but has not identified them.
Abdul Muhsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Sharikh, known as Sanafi al-Nasr, was born in the Saudi town of al-Shaqra in Riyadh. He led al-Qaeda’s Victory Committee, which is responsible for developing and implementing al-Qaeda’s strategy and policies. Al-Nasr was an important power broker and a strategic thinker in al-Qaeda terorist group in Syria.
The Syrian armed forces and the Hezbollah fighters, with Russia’s air backup, have started large-scale clean-up operations to hunt the remaining members of the militant groups across the Aleppo province.