Putin: Results of Russia’s counter-terrorism operations in Syria positive so far

Moscow, SANA – Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that the results of Russia’s military operations against terrorists in Syria have been positive so far.

During a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu on Wednesday, Putin said that evaluating such a difficult form of counter-terrorism operations now would be premature, but what has been achieved thus far has been very positive.

The Russian President stressed that the Russian Air Force’s operations are conducted in coordination with the Syrian Arab Army’s operations, and that he is counting on this coordination in the future so that the Russian Air Force an support the Syrian Army effectively.

Putin called on the United States who claims to “know the situation on the ground in Syria better than any other side” to provide the Russian Defense Ministry with data on the locations of ISIS terrorists in Syria, if these claims are actually true.

He also stressed the need for cooperation in fighting terrorism, as without the participation of the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and other neighboring countries, it would be difficult to finish the fight against terrorism in the desired way.

Putin also revealed that French President Francois Hollande proposed an “interesting” idea during the recent Normandy group meeting, which is uniting the efforts of the Syrian Arab Army with the so-called “Free Army” to fight ISIS.

He said that Russia doesn’t know anything about what this “Free Army” is or where it’s located or who are its leaders, but if one assumes that such a proposed military wing of the “good part” of the opposition actually exists, then uniting efforts to fight against terrorist organizations like ISIS and al-Nusra would be a good prelude for a later political settlement in Syria, adding that Russia is working actively to contact all Syrian opposition forces.

For his part, Shoygu revealed that 4 Russian warships operating in the Caspian Sea targeted 11 ISIS sites and targets and Syria using 26 high-precision Caliber cruise missiles that traveled around 1,500 kilometers to reach their targets.

The Minister confirmed that Russian surveillance systems confirmed that all the aforementioned targets were destroyed without causing any civilian casualties, while Putin noted that hitting targets successfully from such distance with high precision shows the high level of Russia’s military personnel and its military industry.

Hazem Sabbagh

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