Russia claims 88,000 militant deaths from three-year campaign in Syria

Russia says up to 88,000 militants have been killed in Syria since Moscow backed government forces three years ago.

“Over the course of the operation, more than 87,500 rebels have been eliminated, 1,411 settlements have been liberated and more than 95 per cent of Syria’s territory,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Saturday.

Moscow’s air forces started strikes in support of President Bashar Al Assad’s government in September 2015.

“Most of the rebels have been liquidated,” Mr Shoigu said. More than 40,000 bombing missions have taken place, hitting about 120,000 targets of terrorist infrastructure, the defence minister said.

“Syrian armed forces currently control territory where more than 90 per cent of the population lives,” he said.

But experts said the claims were Russian propaganda.

“Where does one even get a number like that? Is it simply tallying total claimed death tolls from all reported strikes, for example?” Aymenn Al Tamimi, fellow at the Middle East Forum, told The National.

“The statement talks about 95 per cent of Syria’s territory as ‘liberated’. The Syrian government certainly would not share that view in light of areas outside its formal control that have a US troop presence,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitoring group, says about 365,000 people have been killed during the seven-year civil war.

Mr Shoigu’s comments came as Washington denied claims made by Russian President Vladimir Putin that ISIS has taken up to 700 people as hostages and is carrying out daily executions.

Mr Putin claimed that European and American nationals were taken from a refugee camp in a US-controlled area.

At an international policy forum in Sochi, Mr Putin said “they have been recently expanding their area and took about 130 families hostage, which accounts for about 700 people”.

He said the militants had put forth demands, which he did not specify, and have warned they would kill 10 people a day if the demands were not met. “They killed 10 people the day before yesterday,” he said. “They are now carrying out their threats.”