Large swathes of Syria under government control: Russia

Russia says the Damascus government currently controls sizable parts of Syria, with fresh gains made by Syrian forces against the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group over the past few months.

According to the reports, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov made the remarks during a briefing on Friday in the recently-liberated Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn in the central province of Homs.

“Over the past six months, the government troops and patriotic forces backed by the Russian air group have liberated about 500 settlements, tens of thousands of square kilometers. A considerable part of the territory is under control of the pro-government forces,” Konashenkov said.

The Russian official highlighted the liberation of Qaryatayn earlier this month and said “the entire territory is controlled by governmental forces.”

The strategic town lies on a key road connecting the ancient city of Palmyra to the Qalamoun region of Damascus. It had fallen to Daesh terrorists last August.

“Local administration is returning to these areas. There are hundreds times more of such territories as compared with October 2015,” Konashenkov added

SS