Syria Launches a Large-Scale Operation Against the Islamic State

Syrian General Staff Lt.-Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub announced the beginning of a large-scale offensive against the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.

JABLEH (Sputnik) – Syrian Armed Forces launched a large-scale operation agains the Islamic State (ISIL) to retake occupied areas from the terrorists, Syrian General Staff Lt.-Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub said Thursday.

“Today, the Syrian Armed Forces began a large-scale defensive with the goal of destroying terrorist groups and freeing regions and populated areas that have suffered from terror and crimes,” Ayyoub told journalists in the Mediterranean coast city of Jableh.

This step is following a week-long bombing campaign by the Russian Air Force against ISIL militants in Syria where Russia's airstrikes crippled the military capabilities of the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations, according to Ayyoub.

“Strikes by the Russian Air Force has crippled the military capabilities of the Islamic State international terrorist group and other terrorist organizations,” Ayyoub told journalists in the Mediterranean coast city of Jableh.

Syrian Armed Forces have begun  a large-scale defensive against positions of terrorist groups in order to free regions and populated areas in the country, Ali Abdullah Ayyoub said.