On Tuesday, Lieutenant General Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the main operations department of the Russian General Staff, gave reporters an update on Moscow’s efforts to squeeze ISIS by dismantling the group’s illicit oil trade from the air.
“The intensity of air strikes at Islamic State and other terrorist targets has been increased, Rudskoy told reporters, adding that The Kremlin’s warplanes have destroyed six oil production facilities and seven truck convoys in the past three days alone.
The Russian MoD - which had made a habit of documenting Moscow's military exploits in Syria on the way to making Washington’s 15-month effort look ineffectual by comparison - was also out with some fresh commentary on the effort to cripple Islamic State’s illegal crude trafficking business. “Russian air strikes have helped to halve the Islamic State’s proceeds from illegal oil trade from $3 million to $1.5 million,” TASS reported [3], citing the defense ministry.
According to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights - which, you're reminded, is essentially one man operating from London on tips he receives from a network of "sources" on the ground - Russian warplanes struck [4] "a fuel market in Idlib on Tuesday, destroying tanker trucks, setting huge fires and killing 16 people."
While it's impossible to conclusively verify the death toll or who actually conducted the strikes, it does indeed appear that someone "struck oil" (so to speak) in Idlib yesterday and for those wondering what the situation on the ground looks like after the Russians hit terrorist oil convoys, we present the following video with no further comment:
