600 terrorists killed in Russian cruise missile strike in Syria – Defense Ministry

There were separate reports of a pair of Russian cruise missiles flying low over the Aleppo Province in the direction of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa.

Russian Federation also unleashed cruise missiles from warships in the Caspian Sea at targets across Syria, as Moscow kept up its intensified bombardments in the already war-torn country. The Russian aviation grouping comprises more than 50 aircraft and helicopters, including the Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M bombers, Su-25 attack aircraft, Su-30SM fighters and Mil Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters. Speaking on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 22, 2015, the president said the current Syrian leadership will not help in stopping the civil war and the global fight against the Islamic State.

Russia stepped up its campaign against ISIS after determining the terror group was responsible for downing a Russian airliner in Egypt last month, killing all 224 on board.

Shoigu said the strikes this week inflicted significant casualties on IS, including more than 600 militants killed in just one strike in the province of Deir el-Zour.

Several medical groups have also accused Russian Federation of strikes that have hit field clinics and hospitals in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called upon the Russian army personnel to preserve the momentum of the operations against the armed terrorist groups in Syria.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Ilya Rogachev earlier on Friday criticised France’s justification for the attacks, that they were self-defence according to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

“However the majority of Russian air strikes are still against moderate Syrian opposition forces, which is clearly concerning, and those strikes are in support of the Syrian regime”.

Meanwhile, Turkey has warned Russian Federation that it must immediately stop bombing “civilian Turkmen villages” in Syria, close to the Turkish border.

“According to objective control data, the number of terrorists arriving in Syria is declining, and the flow of militants leaving areas of combat operation is growing in the northern and south-western directions”, the Russian Defense Minister said.