Russia has removed most of its strike aircraft from Syria and has not conducted air strikes there this week, according to a U.S. military official.

“The majority, if not all, of their strike aircraft have left,” Col. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the U.S. military’s Central Command that oversees operations in the Middle East, told Pentagon reporters Friday.

Ryder said the Russian military still has helicopters and transport aircraft in Syria, along with Russian ground forces.

Russian forces have aided Syrian troops fighting Islamic State (IS) militants this week around Palmyra and the town of Tadmur, but this counter-IS help was carried out “via artillery systems,” he said.

“They still do maintain some indirect fire capability that they are using in support of Syrian regime operations, but those aren’t aircraft. That would be artillery,” Ryder said.
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