MOSCOW: Russia’s air force has killed about 850 militants in Syria’s zone of de-escalation in Idlib in the last 24 hours, Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying on Wednesday.
A monitor said that three Russian soldiers have been killed in Syria during fighting between IS group and the government forces.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the soldiers were killed on Monday near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
On Monday Syrian government troops came close to encircling IS militants in a pocket of the city after crossing the adjacent Euphrates River to reach the eastern flank, Russia’s defence ministry said.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the soldiers were killed on the east bank of the river during clashes in which militants fired mortar rounds and a suicide bomber attacked Syrian forces.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian army about their reported deaths which were claimed by IS on social media networks. The Russian defence ministry on Monday said the Syrian troops were able to advance “with the support of Russian aviation” strikes.
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