The Russian Defense Ministry has reiterated that the United States is occupying Syrian territory illegally. It also declared that Syrian Arab Army forces were able to eliminate the terrorist group that attacked a civilian passenger bus on the Raqqa-Homs road.
“Forces trained in the al-Tanf area by ISIS terrorist gangs — whom the Americans consider a tool for achieving their foreign policy priorities in Syria — are attacking Syrian civilians and public infrastructure,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“One of these gangs — trained by U.S. special forces specialists at a training camp in al-Tanf — secretly penetrated the Syrian desert and planned terrorist attacks on oil industry facilities in the region. These gangs first appeared on June 20th, when they fired at a civilian bus on the borders of Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor governorates. During the attack, 14 people were killed and five others injured.”
According to the website Russia Today, the Russian Defense Ministry continued its statement as follows: “Despite the complexity of the desert operations, units of the Syrian Arab Army — supported by Russian reconnaissance aircraft — discovered the terrorists, launched a high-precision strike, and eliminated them.”
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The Russian defense issued a warning in its statement to American-backed terrorists: “Every terrorist, wherever he hides, must know and remember that punishment is coming.”
The statement called on the United States to stop provoking crises as other actors seek to build peace, renewing Russia’s call for the United States to leave Syrian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense’s statement coincided with a separate statement, issued by the Syrian Ministry of Defense, which revealed: “As part of the coordination and joint training between the Syrian and Russian armies, over several days both forces carried out a training session on paragliding. Hundreds of our heroic fighters participated in the session, exhibiting high morale, courage, and accuracy in their collective preparation and implementation.”
The statement follows a series of joint exercises between the Syrian and Russian armies to rigorously train our fighters on paragliding in various circumstances and at all times, meeting high professional standards.
Media sources revealed that the Syrian Arab Army launched a ground operation with Russian air cover to hunt down ISIS militants in the Badia desert, to the east of Syria’s Raqqa governorate.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
