Russian forces will “continue to take all necessary measures to stop Islamic State units from breaking out of Raqqa” in Syria toward the northwestern provinces of Homs and Hama, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said by email on Thursday. “The Russian Air Force in Syria has the means to destroy terrorists at any time.”’
According to Bloomberg, Russian planes killed more than 100 Islamic State fighters and destroyed 32 pick-up trucks mounted with high-caliber machine guns on May 25 as a column of extremists headed toward the ancient city of Palmyra, according to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow. Three more columns of jihadists tried to go in the same direction under cover of darkness during the night of May 29-30. Russian air strikes killed 80 fighters, 36 vehicles and 17 pick-up trucks mounted with heavy guns, the defense ministry said.
Russia’s attacks on Islamic State come as Kurdish-led forces backed by the U.S. step up their offensive to capture Raqqa. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he’s seeking to build a joint anti-terrorist front with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, but the American leader’s pledge to work with Russia has run into resistance from both Democrats and his own Republican party.
Missile Strikes
Russia also fired four cruise missiles from a warship and submarine at Islamic State targets including fighters and heavy weaponry near Palmyra, the Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday, without disclosing losses suffered by the extremist Sunni group.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that his country has reliable information that the Kurdish-led forces reached an agreement with the beseiged Islamic State fighters allowing them to leave the city in the direction of Palmyra.
The UNESCO world-heritage site of Palmyra has twice since 2015 fallen into the hands of Islamic State, which wreaked massive destruction on its Roman ruins.