Shoigu reported directly to President Vladimir Putin Friday, announcing that the air strikes destroyed 15 oil refining and storage facilities in Syria, as well as 525 trucks carrying oil in this week’s bombings. He said this deprived ISIS of $1.5 million in daily income from oil sales.
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In a video posted online by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday, the Russian words “За Парижа” – or “for Paris” in English – are written on what appears to be bombs on a Russian jet in Syria.
He added that a strike with multiple cruise missiles in the province of Deir ez-Zor had killed more than 600 militants.
Officials at the airport in the Lebanese capital of Beirut said the airport will close for three days as of Friday midnight due to Russian military drills in the Mediterranean Sea.
Russia has intensified strikes on Syrian militants, including from Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed 130 people in Paris and for downing a Russian airliner in Egypt last month, killing all 224 on board.
According to Shoigu, Russian warplanes flew 522 sorties and destroyed over 800 targets in the last four days.
Moscow on 17 November stepped up the intensity of its activity in Syria, for the first time employing Tupolev Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers.
Early Thursday, the Tu-95 strategic bombers launched 12 long-range cruise missiles on IS targets, including its headquarters in the province of Idlib, fuel depots and a factory making explosives, he said.
He also added that the Russian military has started cooperating with its French counterparts, as ordered by President Putin.
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On Thursday, the chief of the Russian military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, had a phone call with his French counterpart to discuss co-operation in the fight against the IS.
