11.10.2017, Russia.
After the Syrian Army launched Deir ez-Zor province liberation campaign, the intensity of the US-led Coalition’s shelling of ISIL (organization banned in Russia) militants in Iraq has significantly dropped, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on October 10, TASS reports.
“In September, after the Syrian army with the support of Russian Aerospace Forces began liberation operation of the province of Deir ez-Zor from ISIL (organization banned in Russia), the international US-led coalition has significantly decreased its strikes against ISIL (organization banned in Russia) in Iraq down to several times per day, with five times less attacks in comparison to ones carried out in Syria,” the General said, referring to the openly published Pentagon statistics on sorties.
“This intensity reduction of attacks in Iraq coincided in a strange way with redeployment of ISIL’s (organization banned in Russia) major terrorist forces to Deir ez-Zor from the border areas of Iraq, who are now trying to gain foothold on the eastern shore of the Euphrates. The US-led coalition that simulates the fight against ISIL (organization banned in Russia), particularly in Iraq, sees all of this, but continues to supposedly actively combat ISIL (organization banned in Russia) in Syria for some reason,” Igor Konashenkov said.
The representative of the Russian Defense Ministry also stressed out that militants control much larger territories in western Iraq compared to those in Syria, and their influence in Iraq continues to grow.
“The ISIL-controlled (organization banned in Russia) territory in western Iraq supplying terrorist reinforcements to the eastern bank of Euphrates, that is, where the aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces is not operating, continues to grow, being several-times larger than their territory in Syria, on top of that,” Igor Konashenkov said.
The United States armed forces together with their allies started military operation against ISIL (organization banned in Russia) on August 8, 2014. The air forces of the United States, Australia, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE participate in air strikes.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
