Russian MoD Official: 'Combing of Abu Kemal Is Now Almost Completed'

Several media outlets earlier claimed that Daesh had seized major areas of the Syrian city of Abu Kemal, forcing the Syrian Army to leave the captured zone. A representative of the Russian forces in Syria has refuted the reports, observing that the suppression of the remaining terrorists in the city was almost completed.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Syrian army, with support from the Russian Aerospace Forces, retook Abu Kemal, the last terrorist stronghold. However, a day later, reports appeared in some western media sources saying that Daesh has recaptured nearly 60 percent of Abu Kemal's territory, forcing the troops of the Syrian Army to flee.

"All messages of the Daesh and of foreign media quoting them, about the alleged abandonment of the city of Abu Kemall by the Syrian troops, are unfounded propaganda. The city came under the control of the Syrian army and militias on Friday," a representative of the Russian group of forces in Syria said on Sunday.

A Russian military official added that the last hardcore fighters are being eliminated on the outskirts of the city.

"Combing of the city’s suburbs is now almost completed. The resistance of remaining pockets of terrorists and lone fighters is being suppressed in order to begin demining [the city’s] districts soon," he added.

Last week, Syrian government troops, supported by strikes on Daesh by Russian air and sea forces struck the embattled terrorist hotbed in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor.  

Earlier, the Russian Defense ministry noted that over 90 percent of the country's territory has been liberated from the terrorists.