Russia’s planes in Syria have flown 316 sorties over the past five days to deal 819 strikes on terrorists of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia), the chief of the main operations department of Russia’s General Staff, Sergey Rudskoy, told the media.

"To eliminate the encircled terrorists trying to retreat towards Deir ez-Zor the intensity of strikes by Russian aircraft was increased to 60-70 sorties a day. Russia’s Aerospace Force carries out air reconnaissance and eliminates IS armored vehicles, pickup trucks armed with heavy weapons and truck convoys carrying ammunition round the clock. Over the past five days Russian planes flew 316 sorties to deal 819 strikes," Colonel-General Rudskoy said.

In all, Rudskoy said, Russia’s planes in August carried out 990 sorties.

"A total of 2,518 air strikes were dealt against command centers, positions, warehouses and transit camps of terrorists. Forty armored vehicles, 106 trucks carrying heavy machineguns and up to 800 terrorists were destroyed," he said.

"The operation to recapture central Syria from terrorists is nearing completion," Rudskoy stated.