Russia's Syria Campaign: Top 5 Achievements No One Mentions

These include eliminating top terrorist commanders, key victories on the battlefield and ammunition recycling.

Targeting terrorist leaders

In late December, one of the most powerful terrorist leaders – the commander of Jaysh al-Islam – was killed in an air attack conducted by Russia warplanes. The operation targeted a meeting of high profile rebels, including Zahran Alloush, in Eastern Ghouta. 

Jaysh al-Islam, the largest rebel group around Damascus, is trying to create an Islamic caliphate in Syria. The organization, that has as many as 25,000 members, has received support from Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Thanks to Russia's efforts, the group lost several of its key leaders in what is known as a "decapitation" strike, a strategy, which is aimed at tackling a terrorist group by killing its senior commanders.

Russian forces also eliminated other rebel leaders, but Alloush, who was also one of spiritual jihadist leaders, is the most prominent one.

Major battlefield victories

Russia launched its counterterrorist operation in Syria on September 30, 2015, at a time when the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was locked in several battles and largely losing ground.

In the several weeks that followed, the SAA assisted by Russian warplanes lifted the three-year-long siege of a secluded Kuweires (Kweiris) military airbase. The offensive against Daesh has also helped to cut a major terrorist supply route to Aleppo, the largest city in the country.

In addition, Damascus-led forces scored major victories in the key province of Latakia, the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor has received humanitarian aid by air and the SAA is preparing an operation to free the city of Palmyra, the most famous landmark in the country.

Liberating eastern Syria

Russian forces have also assisted Kurdish fighters, who have tried to separate the Daesh-held territories in Iraq and Syria by reestablishing control over the border between the two countries. Last year, the militants lost control over the shortest route between Raqqa and Mosul, two Daesh capitals in Iraq and Syria, when the Kurds pushed them out of Sinjar. 

Earlier this year, in February, the Syrian Democratic Forces recaptured the town of al-Shaddadah, alternatively spelled as Al-Shaddadi, which Daesh also used to transport fighters, weapons and supplies between Iraq and Syria. Russian warplanes were instrumental in this victory.

In addition, Russia provided modern weaponry and training to the SAA. For instance, Damascus-led forces received Russia's third-generation main battle tanks, the T-90C, as well as the TOS-1A Solntsepyok multiple rocket launchers. 

The operation against the foreign-sponsored insurgency in Syria has also helped Damascus to recycle some of its aging ammunition, while Russian forces were able to showcase cutting-edge weapons. "It's no secret that Syria's air-delivered bombs are not new. A large amount of ballistic and concrete-piercing bombs were produced in the Soviet era," the Russian website Ruposters explained.