ERBIL; Kurdistan Region – Intensified air bombing against the Islamic State (ISIS) was reported in Deir Ezzor and Raqqa in Syria over the past 24 hours, as Russia announced it had killed 60 militants in air strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that warplanes bombed two towns near the contested provincial capital of Deir Ezzor, where a Syrian Army outpost has stood in the way of ISIS taking over that city for well over a year now.
SOHR reported the death toll from the strikes at 44. In ISIS´ Raqqa stronghold, air strikes reportedly killed 32. It is unclear how many of these were ISIS casualties.
But the state-run Russia Today said that Russian air raids on Deir Ezzor had killed 60 ISIS militants.
Since it intervened in Syria four months ago Russia and its long-time Syrian ally have been accused of not targeting ISIS but instead hitting other armed groups fighting the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
