Russia awards medals to Palmyra sappers

Russia has awarded medals to its bomb disposal soldiers for their “excellent” service during the mission to the Syrian city of Palmyra.  

More than 30 Russian sappers were honored in a ceremony attended by representatives of Russia’s General Staff, the command of Engineer Forces, colleagues, relatives and friends at the International Mine Action Center of Russia’s Armed Forces in the Moscow region of Nakhabino on Tuesday.

According to the Russian military, around 17,500 explosive objects, including more than 400 homemade bombs, were defused, and over 2,500 booby-trapped buildings were cleared of mines by the Russian demining troops in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Homs province.

"More than 800 hectares of territory, 23 kilometers of roads and 10 sites of historic heritage were cleared of explosives during the effort. The result of work that you have done is the successful implementation of the task set by the commander-in-chief and deep gratitude of the Syrian people," Russian Deputy Chief of General Staff Sergey Istrakov said during the ceremony.

"I rate the work of the sappers as excellent: first because there was no loss [of life]. Secondly, the people, of course worked hard, they were very attentive and I am glad that this unit got such serious experience. Now we are ready to perform tasks in any location, in any region of the world," said Lieutenant-General Yuriy Stavitskiy, the head of the Russian Engineering Troops.

Russia’s bomb disposal experts had been deployed to the Syrian city in early April following a request made by Damascus to help demine the city.

Daesh captured the ruins of Palmyra and the adjacent modern city in May 2015, and destroyed ancient monuments there, including the 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel and the iconic Arch of Triumph. The Syrian forces fully liberated the city on March 27 in a significant blow to the extremist terror group.

Russia launched its air campaign against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria in September last year upon a request by the Damascus government. In mid-March, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Moscow’s forces from the Arab state after peace talks resumed between the government and the opposition in the Swiss city of Geneva.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

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