Islam Times - Russia Renews ISIS Strikes, Kills 21 Terrorist Fighters

Islam Times - Russian fighter jets launched at least 130 airstrikes in Syria over the past 24 hours, killing at least 21 ISIS fighters, said a British-based Syrian monitoring group.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian opposition monitoring body watching the war in the Arab country, said that the raids followed a series of ISIS attacks that killed a number of Syrian and allied forces.

The air strikes focused on a vast desert area stretching from the central province of Homs to the border with Iraq that has recently become the focal point of increasingly frequent fighting between IS and Syrian government forces.

ISIS remnants have been reorganizing themselves in the past few months, triggering fears that the barbarous terrorist group could restore its power and once again fight against the central governments in both Syria and Iraq.

The group was defeated in both Syria and Iraq in 2017 with a staunch Iranian and Russian support to Damascus and Baghdad.

Is ISIS resurfacing in Syria and Iraq?

ISIS terrorist group emerged in the two war-weary countries in 2014, benefiting from Syrian army involvement in battle against the opposition forces and Iraq’s sectarian gaps.

The group’s rise story is a case of ambiguity but what was clear to both Damascus and Baghdad was that it enjoyed foreign support, especially by the countries seeking to topple the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The group in lightening attacks captured vast parts of Syria and then Iraq. The group emerged like a regular armed force in terms of equipment and arms. From its “army of Toyota trucks” to its semi-heavy arms are provided by bankrollers mainly in the Persian Gulf Arab states who were not afraid to say they were ready to arm any group, even ISIS, to fight the Syrian government. Turkey facilitated arms entry to Syria, and from there to Iraq.

Many accuse the US of designing all these and pressuring the Arab monarchies to fund them.

But Washington insists it has been fighting ISIS since 2014 along with its Western allies who form an uninvited alliance in Syria. Their fighter jets more than once bombed, allegedly “by mistake”, Syrian and Iraqi troops advancing against terrorist militias.

Russia launched its campaign when the situation was critical for the Syrian government, and in three years with an Iranian assistance helped the Syrian forces to defeat the history’s most heinous terrorist group.

Recently, Iran has been warning that efforts have been made by Western intelligence agencies, mainly American, to revive ISIS to justify their stay in both Iraq and Syria.

With the airstrikes, Moscow may want to send a message: We remain on the ground beside Syria.