Russian General Killed in Daesh Shelling near Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor

TEHRAN (defapress) – Lieutenant-General Valery Asapov, of the Russian armed forces, has been killed after coming under shelling from Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) militants near Syria’s eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry announced

News ID: 66047

Date: 25 September 2017 - 14:04

In its statement, the ministry said that Asapov was at a command outpost manned by Syrian troops, assisting commanders in the liberation of the city of Deir ez-Zor.

Asapov has been described as one of the senior Russian military advisers in Syria.

"As a result of a sudden mortar shelling by Daesh militants, Lieutenant-General Valery Asapov was fatally wounded by an exploding shell,” the ministry said, according to RT.

Earlier in September the Syrian armed forces, working closely with the Russian Air Force, successfully broke the Daesh siege of Deir ez-Zor, and residents’ lives have begun to return to some semblance of normality. With the highway between Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra back under government control, Russian and Syrian humanitarian aid has finally been able to flow through to the formerly besieged inhabitants.

Official figures from the Russian defense ministry stated in August that 34 Russian servicemen had been killed in Syria since the start of Moscow's military campaign there in 2015.

In early September, the ministry announced the death of two more Russian servicemen in Daesh shelling in Syria. Together with Asapov, that brings the overall death toll of Russian servicemen in Syria to 37.