Putin Says Daesh Took Several American, European Citizens Hostage in US-Controlled Part of Syria

The 700 hostages captured in Syria by Daesh terrorists include US and European citizens and are being killed off 10 people a day, Russia’a President Vladimir Putin said, criticizing American forces for “catastrophic” failure.

Daesh terrorists “have delivered ultimatums and made certain demands, threatening … to shoot ten people every day,” the Russian leader stated, adding that the hostage-takers already started carrying out their threats and executed ten hostages two days ago, RT reported.

“This is just horrible, it is a catastrophe,” Putin said, adding that the US forces that claim to control the area around the East bank of the Euphrates River, relying on the Kurdish armed forces on the ground, stay conspicuously silent on this crisis.

“Some US and European citizens are among the hostages,” the president warned, noting that “everyone is silent … as if nothing has happened”.

“They [the US] have clearly fallen short of their target,” Putin said, adding that Washington and its allies apparently failed to combat terrorists in the part of Syria they occupy.

Daesh militants continue to expand their presence in the area, he stressed.

Russian forces dealt a “heavy blow” to terrorists in Syria, eliminating many of them and forcing others to lay down their arms, Putin said.

“Over these years, we liberated almost 95 percent of the Syrian Republic’s territory,” the president added.

FARS