Last week, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman US Army Col. Steve Warren slammed the Russian operation, telling reporters via a teleconference from Baghdad that "the Russians have been indiscriminate" and "reckless in Syria…dropping cluster munitions around where civilians may be."
Warren went so far as to suggest that Russia does "not appear to be interested in defeating [the Islamic State]," and that the Russian operation is "interested [only] in preserving the Assad regime."
Responding to Warren's comments Thursday in a statement issued on the Defense Ministry's Facebook page, Konashenkov suggested that Col. Warren should pay closer attention to the ministry's briefings.
"In the course of our briefings, I have repeatedly emphasized for representatives of the media that the targeting systems of our planes in Syria are state-the-art, allowing, figuratively speaking, to get a rock dropped from a great height to hit a shovel handle. And we use our special ammunition only for the relevant terrorist targets."
"Furthermore," Konashenkov noted, "unlike the Colonel, we do not just talk, but also provide the public with video materials of our airstrikes, since it's better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times."
"As far as Col. Warren's commentary about ISIL terrorists' 'maneuvering', following our airstrikes, what is there to add, really? Apparently, after bombings by US planes, the terrorists just stand where they are, spellbound, applauding and shout 'Encore!'…Perhaps this explains why, after a year of bombing by US aircraft, ISIL terrorists have managed to capture and maintain control over a good chunk of Syria."
