ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russia announced Wednesday that its warplanes had destroyed 500 fuel trucks of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria, carrying crude oil and petroleum to its territories in Iraq.
"I would like to point out that a decision has been made to let Russian planes fly sorties to search for tanker trucks carrying petroleum products belonging to terrorists in areas controlled by the organization calling itself the Islamic State," Russian operations chief Col. Gen. General Andrei Kartapolov said.
He added that Russian warplanes destroyed about 500 fuel tank trucks that were illegally transporting oil from Syria to Iraq.
"Over the past years, the Islamic State and other extremist groupings have streamlined the operations of the so-called 'pipeline on the road' in the areas under their control," Kartapolov said.
He noted that these airstrikes have considerably sabotaged the group's oil smuggling between Iraq and Syria "In the first several days alone, our warplanes destroyed about 500 fuel tank trucks."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said that he had told his G20 colleagues that 40 countries including G20 nations are financially helping ISIS.
"As we have established, financing comes from 40 countries, including some countries members of G20," Putin told reporters.
