Russia says kills 180 terrorists, mercenaries in Syria

Puzzlingly, the ministry also said three senior Daesh commanders including Omar al-Shishani had been confirmed dead as a result of an earlier Russian strike.

Moscow reported Shishani’s death despite the fact that the Pentagon said in 2016 the notorious terrorist had been killed by American troops in Iraq.

The ministry said “large numbers of foreign mercenaries” were coming into the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal from Iraq.

Moscow reported their deaths after taking “several days” to confirm the results of an earlier strike on the northern outskirts of Albu Kamal which destroyed a Daesh command post with more than 30 terrorists including the natives of the Northern Caucasus.

‘Omar the Chechen’

The Pentagon announced in March 2016 that American forces had killed Shishani, one of the most notorious faces of Daesh known for his thick red beard.

Shishani, whose nom de guerre means “Omar the Chechen,” came from the former Soviet state of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge region, which is populated mainly by ethnic Chechens.

He fought against Russian forces before joining the Georgian military in 2006, and fought Russian forces again in Georgia in 2008.

He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign members and became a senior leader within Daesh.

The Russian Defense Ministry was not immediately available for further comment.

The advances against Daesh in Deir ez-Zor have resulted in a heavy civilian death toll through Russian and coalition air raids.

Moscow has been staging airstrikes in support of its ally Damascus targeting both Daesh in Deir ez-Zor Province and rival terrorists led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate in Idlib Province in the northwest.