Kremlin: Pentagon took credit for Russia's and Syria’s victory over ISIS
The international coalition, fighting against the forces of ISIS in Syria, inflicted no more blows on the militants in a month than Russian aircraft did in a day, RBC reported the Defense Ministry as saying.
“The statement by Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon, alleging that the majority of the territory in Iraq and Syria was liberated because of the efforts of the global coalition and its partners, is nothing more than an attempt to portray things as they wish they were,” the ministry said.
This was how the Defense Ministry reacted to the statement of Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon, who said that the efforts of Damascus, Moscow and Tehran “are unlikely to lead to a complete and final defeat” of ISIS. Pahon added that the Syrian government troops, with the support of Russian aviation forces, were not able to free a large part of the country from the control of terrorists. The U.S. and its allies, the Pentagon spokesman emphasized, “is defeating ISIS” and creating conditions to keep the militants from returning to the areas from which they have been ousted.
On October 6, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that ISIS forces control less than 10% of the territory in Syria. “Since Russian Aerospace Forces entered the fight against ISIS on September 30, 2015, the territory under the control of ‘the Caliphate’ has been reduced to less than 10%,” he said.