ISIL Terrorists Flee Raqqa Province after Russian Airstrikes

Tuesday, 6 October 2015

ISIL Terrorists Flee Raqqa Province after Russian Airstrikes

Terrorists of the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group have evacuated the Raqqa province and fled to Iraq, local sources in Eastern Syria confirmed on Monday.

"The ISIL militants, most of them from the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Chechnya, together with their families have left Raqqa province for Iraq," a local source told Fars news agency on Monday.

The source noted that at least 220 ISIL members have fled to Iraq, and said, "Notorious terrorists such as Abu Talheh Hejazi from Saudi Arabia and ISIL religious police chief Abu Abdullah al-Akidi are among the militants who have fled Raqqa province."

Meantime, about 160 militants were reportedly killed during the fighting in Deir Ezzor province.

Early reports that came on Friday had informed that ISIL militants were on the run to save their lives after sustaining heavy casualties in the Russian airstrikes in Raqqa.

"A large number of foreign ISIL terrorists have fled Raqqa for Iraq after the Russian warplanes pounded their hideouts," the Arabic-language El-Nashre news website quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

The report said that many ISIL militants and their families have escaped form Tal a-Saman villages in the Northern parts of Raqqa.

The Syrian air defense command said that the Russian Air Force struck the ISIL-held Tabaqa airbase in Raqqa governorate’s Western territories, destroying the military barracks after two airstrikes above this large military base.

The source said the ISIL terrorists sustained considerable damage as a result of the Russian airstrikes on the Tabaqa airbase.

In addition to their airstrikes inside Tabaqa, the Russian Air Force struck the ISIL positions at the Al-‘Ajrawi Farms; this farm area is located outside of the Tabaqa airbase and used by the terrorist group as a weapons supply depot.

To the east of the Raqqa governorate, the Russian fighter jets continued their airstrikes above the Hasaka governorate, attacking the terrorist group at the cities of Al-Shadadi and Al-Houl, while the Syrian Air Force struck an ISIL convoy along the Deir Ezzor-Hasaka Highway.