[ad_1]
On October 16 the Russian Air Force launched strikes on a training camp and a command post in the northwestern province of Idlib killing up to 100 militants from the former Al Qaeda affiliate the Al Nusra Front and other jihadist factions. The strike destroyed a command post, ammunition depots, vehicles, and the camp’s headquarters. Amid an ongoing military campaign in Ukraine, the Russian Military has maintained a sizeable contingent in Eastern Syria for the purposes of exposing NATO’s southern flank and providing ongoing support to Syrian government counterinsurgency efforts. This contingent is built around assets at Khmiemim Airbase in Latakia Province near the Mediterranean Sea, which was established in August 2015 and expanded in 2021 to begin to host strategic bombers and long range strike aircraft as its focus shifted away from counterinsurgency operations within Syria itself.
Although the large majority of Syrian territory has been restored to government control, Idlib remains occupied by a range of jihadist militant groups which have received extensive Turkish protection to prevent Syrian Army advances as demonstrated during an attempted offensive into the region from January-March 2020. Idlib has been widely described as the world’s largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 9/11 by U.S. officials among others, and hosts militants from across the world ranging from West Africans jihadists to tens of thousands of Uyghurs Islamists from China’s Xinjiang Province. Northeastern Syria is also outside government control due to U.S. and allied deployments, with the oil rich area pillaged continuously and Syrian oil illegally exported through Iraq by U.S. forces to help finance the occupation.
[ad_2]
Source link
