The Russian Defense Ministry announced Tuesday the launch of expanded operations against the increased activity of militants in central Syria, indirectly challenging American forces deployed there.
“The activity of militants in central Syria has significantly increased in the last month in wake of the amnesty issued by the northeastern administration, which is controlled by the US,” the Russian Defense Ministry said of operation “White Desert.”
According to a ministry spokesperson, ISIS militants are destabilizing the region by sabotaging transport communications and oil and gas facilities and attacking Syrian army patrols and positions.
He said the US was using the increased terrorist activity as an excuse to justify its continued deployment in eastern Syria, vowing that the operation will continue until the complete destruction of the US-controlled armed factions operating there.
“The bombing by the Russian Air Force and the Syrian Air Force, as well as artillery shelling in the White Desert operation, resulted in the liquidation of 327 militants, destruction of 134 hideouts, 17 observation points, seven ammunition depots and five underground weapons and ammunition warehouses,” the spokesman said.
The new operation is seen as retaliation to the killing of Russian Major General Vyacheslav Gladkikh in a bombing in Deir Ezzour last week.
The spokesman added that ISIS terrorists in central Syria have been joined by militants who have received training in “territories occupied by the US in the Tanf and east of the Euphrates regions.”
The Russian statements coincided with news of tensions between American and Russian forces in the Qamishli countryside. Moscow was also reinforcing its positions in Ain Issa in the Raqqa countryside, while Washington was increasing its activity in the Hasakeh countryside.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that Moscow had launched an operation in retaliation to Gladkikh’s death, revealing that pro-Moscow militias had started a new sweep of the Deir Ezzour desert in pursuit of ISIS cells.
The rights monitor revealed that ISIS ambushes, attacks and bombings have claimed the lives of at least 661 regime fighters and loyalists, including Syrians and non-Syrians, since March 24, 2019. At least two Russians and 140 Iranians were killed in these operations, which took place in the region west of the Euphrates and the Deir Ezzour desert, Raqqa, Homs and Sweida.
A number of civilians were also killed, as well as 273 ISIS members.
