Russia’s claim of victory over jihadists rejected

RUSSIA: Russia has declared ‘‘mission accomplished’’ in Syria, saying the country has been ‘‘completely liberated’’ from Islamic State jihadists – a claim rejected by the United States.

General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, said at a briefing in Moscow that ‘‘all Isis groups on the territory of Syria have been destroyed, and the territory itself has been freed’’.

Gerasimov said the final jihadist forces had been wiped out on Thursday by forces led by General Suheil Salman al-Hassan, in an assault that liberated four settlements in the Deir Ezzor region and joined up with government forces attacking from the south.

‘‘Therefore, as of today [Friday], there is no territory controlled by Isis in Syria,’’ he said.

Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, reported the news to President Vladimir Putin, who launched a military campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015. Putin said Shoigu had told him that ‘‘the operations on the eastern and western banks of the Euphrates [River] have been completed with the total rout of the terrorists’’.

He added: ‘‘Naturally, there could still be some pockets of resistance, but overall the military work at this stage and on this territory is completed with, I repeat, the total rout of the terrorists.’’

Eric Pahon, a US Defence Department spokesman, was quoted by Russia’s news agency as saying: ‘‘This is just not true, Isis is not defeated. There are still a couple thousand fighters left, and that’s still a significant amount of fighters . . . It’s premature.’’

Isis has been routed from most of its territory in Syria but is clinging on to small patches of desert in the east, towards the Iraqi border. However, other extremist groups linked to al Qaeda still control areas in northern Idlib province.

Russia has continued its bombing campaign there, in adjoining rebel-held territory in Aleppo province, and in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Sources on the ground report indiscriminate Russian bombing and scores of civilian casualties.

When Russia intervened more than two years ago, it said its task was to destroy ‘‘terrorists’’ of all kinds, but Western critics allege that Russian planes and special forces have targeted Assad’s opponents more than Isis jihadists.

The Syrian regime, which has been propped up by Moscow’s military intervention, is heading to Geneva at the weekend for peace talks. It is likely to use the Russian declaration as a pretext to insist that US forces leave Syrian territory. However, alMasdar, a news channel linked to another Assad ally, the militant group Hizbollah, was reporting yesterday that Isis was making advances in the western province of Hama, in direct contradiction of the Russian statement.

Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian general staff said Syrian government troops would mop up Isis saboteur groups in liberated territory.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that Iraqi forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces had liberated ‘‘about 97 per cent’’ of the people and land that Isis once claimed as its new caliphate. ‘‘The campaign to defeat Isis is now in a new phase in Iraq and Syria,’’ a spokesman said. He also claimed that Russia and Assad were more interested in the survival of the latter’s regime than defeating Isis.