According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as quoted by the BBC, at least 40 ISIS terrorists have been killed by either Russian or Syrian warplanes after a convoy in Hama province was bombed. The “charred bodies of fighters” were observed at the scene.
“The Observatory’s head said the planes could be Russian or Syrian but were not from the US-led coalition,” the BBC reports. An AFP report notes that eastern Hama has been bombed “almost daily” by Syrian military aircraft.
The Russian air campaign has been criticized for focusing on targets other than ISIS — especially rebel forces allied with the United States — while the Russian government loudly declares that taking down the Islamic State is its primary mission. If the Russians bombed this convoy, they will doubtless hold it up as proof that they are going after ISIS, although blowing up a single convoy and killing 40 militants is not exactly a major offensive.
On the other hand, some may question how ISIS is still dispatching truck convoys from its “capital” of Raqqa to destinations such as Hama, after months of what has been sold by the Obama Administration as an intensive anti-ISIS air campaign.
The UK Daily Mail had a report on Monday claiming that Russia’s air strikes have struck so much fear into the hearts of ISIS fighters that they are shaving off their beards and fleeing across the border into Turkey dressed as women.
“Pictures said to have been taken near Aleppo last week shows mounds of what looks like cut off facial hair, alongside discarded packets of razors,” this report asserts. The destruction of the convoy reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is cited as one of the events prompting so many jihadis to shave themselves clean and cross-dress their way into Turkey.
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