MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Pockets of resistance by ISIL (banned in Russia) in Syria are present only in the areas controlled by the United States' forces, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"As for the current situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, we recommend that the Pentagon chief study a map of the situation in this country. ISIL terrorists' pockets of resistance in Syria remain only in districts under U.S. control," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said following remarks by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, had created a catastrophe and that Kurdish units of the Syrian Democratic Forces were the only organization that managed to defeat ISIL.