At Least 300 Takfiris Killed in Lattakia

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TEHRAN (FNA)- At least 300 Takfiri militants were killed in Syrian military operations in the coastal province of Lattakia on Saturday.

The army targeted terrorists' positions in Salma and the mountains surrounding it in the Northern countryside of Lattakia, a military source said, adding at least 300 terrorists were killed in the operations.

On Friday, the Syrian army launched a full-scale offensive in Lattakia province, killing at least 34 terrorists, including foreign mercenaries, in the early stage of the operations, a Syrian army spokesman said.

"As a result of the offensive, we have established control over the towns of Job al-Ahmar, Rabia, and Salma. A total of 34 terrorists, most of them foreign nationals including Chechens, Turks, and Tunisians, have been eliminated," Brigade General Ali Maihoub said.

"In the morning of October 15, parts of our armed forces began a military operation in the North of the Homs province… The names of field commanders killed here are known: Omar Al Khadr, Khalid Abu Anas and Abu Bakr al-Shishani," he went on to say. The latter two are of Chechen origin.

“Our forces […] have managed to seize partial control of the villages of Ter-Maalya, Jawalik, Sunaysil, and also encircled the village of Dar al-Kabira,” Maihoub added.

According to the Syrian army spokesamn, airstrikes killed and injured dozens of ISIL militants East of the Deir Ezzur Airport.

"In the Eastern Raqqa province about 30 ISIL militants have been killed", Ali Maihoub said.

Earlier on Friday, Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, told journalists during a briefing that the large-scale Syrian offensive was enabled by the Russian air operation.

Russia started precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syria's internationally recognized government. The Russian airstrikes hit targets that are chosen based on intelligence collected by Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

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