Baladi News - Journals
Russia's Defense Minister said on Saturday that almost 88,000 members of opposition factions have been killed in Syria since Moscow's intervention to back regime forces in 2015.
"Over the course of the operation, a total of more than 87,500 gunmen have been eliminated and 1,411 settlements and more than 95 percent of Syria's territory has been liberated," Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying at the fifth Defense Ministers’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN eight Dialogue Partners.
Most ISIS militants have been liquidated, he added, stressing that Syrian armed forces currently control territory where 90 percent of the population resides.
“Russian Aerospace Defense Forces have made over 40,000 flights, including 21,000 flight in the nighttime, over the course of the operation in Syria and delivered strikes at around 122,000 terrorist facilities,” he explained.
"Syria is now actively engaged in restoring the peaceful life," he noted, adding that the biggest concern is to resolve humanitarian issues and return refugees and displaced people to their homes.
"As a result of concerted efforts of the Russian center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides, over 2,500 settlements from all over the country have already joined the reconciliation process," the minister said.
He noted that 245,000 refugees had already returned to Syria, and about 2 million people expressed a desire to return to their homeland, adding that since mid-July, some 17,000 Syrians have returned home from Lebanon and Jordan.
He pointed out that his army “has had a rich combat experience in the Syrian war, and we are ready to share with you.”
"The necessary conditions for the return of Syria as a unified state are now available," he stressed, calling for "international efforts to achieve this goal."
Source: Asharq Alawsat