File image.
Warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) had destroyed two militant hideouts in hard-to-reach mountainous terrain in central Syria, the deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria announced on June 2.
“The Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed two hideouts, used by militants who left the al-Tanf zone and took refuge in hard-to-access areas of the governorates of Homs and Deir Ezzor,” Major General Yury Popov said in a briefing.
Video footage posted to social media on the same day showed Russian strikes against militants hideouts in central Syria. However, it is unclear if these were the same airstrikes announced by the Russian Reconciliation Center.
A day earlier, Syrian media reported strikes by the VKS and the Syrian Arab Air Force against ISIS cells in the eastern Homs countryside. The terrorist group has been leading the insurgency against government forces in central Syria.
Attacks on government forces in the central region increased in recent weeks. At least 21 fighters of the Quds Brigade, a pro-government armed faction of mostly Palestinian fighters in Syria, were killed in an ambush on April 18 near the town of al-Sukhna in the eastern Homs countryside. The attack was blamed on ISIS.
And on May 3 at least 13 fighters of the National Defense Forces were killed in an attack by suspected militants of ISIS in the area of al-Kum, to the north of al-Sukhnah.
Around 200 U.S. troops are usually deployed at garrison in al-Tanf, along with hundreds of militants from a proxy group known as the Syrian Free Army. The coalition maintains a 55-kilometer no-fly zone around al-Tanf. Despite this, VKS warplanes fly over the garrison on a regular basis.
The U.S. claims that it is present in al-Tanf to counter ISIS. Nevertheless, the real purpose of the garrison is to block the strategic Damascus-Baghdad highway. In addition, the garrison is reportedly being used as an outpost to collect intelligence and facilitate Israeli attacks against Syria.
Syrian and Russian officials have repeatedly accused U.S. forces in al-Tanf of training and arming militants, including members of ISIS.
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