Syrian Opposition Fails to Provide Map of Controlled Areas to Russian Military

Syrian opposition has not provided Russia with a map indicating the areas it controls, which complicates fight against terrorism.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia has not yet received a map from the Syrian opposition indicating the areas it controls, which makes it difficult to fight terrorists, the Russian General Staff said Tuesday.

"We have not yet received a map indicating the areas controlled by the opposition and terrorists, which makes our fight against the terrorists from Daesh and al-Nusra Front [both outlawed in Russia] more difficult," chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said at a news briefing.

He added that since the beginning of 2017, some 226 settlements and about 3,500 square kilometers of the Syrian territory have been liberated from terrorists.

Since September 2015 Russian Aerospace Forces have been carrying out airstrikes in Syria targeted at terrorist positions at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. In March 2016, the biggest part of Russian air forces left Syria in line with the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin, following successful task fulfillment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in December that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups had reached an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire in Syria and on readiness to start peace talks.