The Russian Ministry of Defense stated in two separate announcements that the air force targeted nine sites of what it described as “terrorists” in the Syrian desert extending between the provinces of Homs and Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria.

According to the Russian news agency TASS, the Deputy Chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center (a division of the Ministry of Defense) said today, Friday, June 7, that the Russian air force conducted strikes on four hideouts of “militants” in mountainous areas difficult to access in Syria.

General Yuri Popov added that the militants had left the al-Tanf area and sought refuge in hard-to-reach areas in the al-Amour mountain range in Homs province.

He pointed out that the Russian armed forces, in cooperation with the Syrian regime, are conducting “joint reconnaissance operations” in the mountainous regions of the provinces of Homs, Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor.

In a separate announcement, TASS reported, quoting Popov on Thursday evening, that Russian forces also targeted five “militant” positions in the provinces of Homs and Deir Ezzor.

Popov said that the sites destroyed by his country’s forces are distributed between the al-Amour mountain range in Homs province and the Bishri mountains in Deir Ezzor.

Russian airstrikes in Syria have not increased in intensity over the years, as Russia always announces the execution of one or two raids in the Syrian desert area, but these rates have not exceeded since Moscow’s involvement in its invasion of Ukraine.

Today, Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defense also said that Russian and Syrian air force warplanes conducted joint patrols in Syrian airspace and trained on executing strikes as part of a joint exercise.

Through Telegram, it added, “As part of a joint exercise, the crews of the Russian and Syrian Aerospace Forces trained on joint operations in Syrian airspace.”

The Russian ministry indicated that Russian and Syrian pilots conducted air patrols in the eastern and southern parts of Syria and “carried out individual and group airstrikes on targets in one of the training areas in the Syrian desert.”

The joint maneuvers involved Russian Air Force “SU-35” fighters and “SU-34” bombers, as well as Syrian regime front-line bombers “SU-24.”

Russia tries to depict its targeting in Syria, which usually pursues the Islamic State organization, as targeting militants backed by the US stationed at the al-Tanf base in eastern Homs. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) declined to comment on questions posed by Enab Baladi.

This week witnessed a Russian military escalation against the Islamic State in the Syrian desert, whose activity has notably increased since the beginning of the year, but this activity has decreased under Russian airstrikes in areas controlled by the Syrian regime.

On the other hand, the International Coalition Forces (ICF) and their local ally, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are active in counter-campaigns to combat the organization’s activity, which has led to a reduction in the pace of operations, but they still continue intermittently.

In December 2023, the Islamic State organization published a photo showing the wreckage of a Russian reconnaissance drone that crashed in the Syrian desert near the city of al-Sukhna in eastern Homs province.

The Islamic State organization said, according to its weekly magazine “Al-Naba”, that the reconnaissance aircraft crashed during a mission west of the city of al-Sukhna in eastern Syria, noting that its elements burned the wreckage of the plane after finding it.