Breaking: Russian air strikes kill 21 IS jihadis in Syria

NEW DELHI: A wave of Russian air strikes killed at least 21 Islamic State group jihadists in the Syrian desert over the past 24 hours, a war monitor said on Saturday (February 20).

 

The 21 jihadis were killed in at least 130 air strikes "carried out over the past 24 hours by the Russian air force targeting the 'Islamic State' group in an area on the edge of the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Raqa", the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

 

In January 27 last, Russian jets launched a blitz of 95 air strikes in 24 hours targeting ISIS jihadis in Syria after an ambush killed regime troops.

 

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This development comes 2 weeks after Islamic State group jihadists killed 19 Syrian regime personnel and allied militia fighters in the central province of Hama.

 

IS overran large parts of Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a cross-border "caliphate" in 2014, before multiple offensives in the two countries led to its territorial defeat.

 

The terror group lost its last scrap of territory in Syria in March 2019, but in recent months it has ramped up attacks against regime forces.

 

After the deadly strike, the Russian Air Force released video footage of guided bombs blowing up what it says are the terrorists' desert hideouts.