Islamic State still controls ‘less than 5%’ of Syria, says Russia’s defence minister

Islamic State [IS] group still controls less than five percent of Syria, Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Monday at a conference in the Philippines, alluding to impact his country's interference in the Syrian war has had.

The "terrorists" controlled more than 70 percent of the country before Russia launched an air campaign in Syria in 2015, Shoigu said.

"Today, [IS] controls less than five percent," he said.

Russian airstrikes allegedly destroyed over 900 training camps and a multitude of heavy weaponry.

"Some 998 towns and settlements have been liberated, and the liberated territory reaches 503,223 square kilometres. Many militants have been killed," Shoigu said.

"The process of restoring peaceful life in the country has started," he added.

IS rose to prominence in Syria in December 2015, conducting attacks against both regime forces and armed opposition groups.

Russia joined the war in Syria at the end of 2015 in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Its air campaign has been labelled as indiscriminate, after killing hundreds of civilians and targeting hospital and school sites.

In recent weeks Russia focused efforts on the east of the country where a race is underway between US-backed Syrian forces and regime troops in the oil-rich Deir Az-Zour  province.

The Syrian conflict began when the Baath regime, in power since 1963 and led by Assad, responded with military force to peaceful protests demanding democratic reforms during the Arab Spring wave of uprisings, triggering an armed rebellion fuelled by mass defections from the Syrian army.

According to independent monitors, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the war, mostly by the regime and its powerful allies, and millions have been displaced both inside and outside of Syria.

The brutal tactics pursued mainly by the Russia-backed Syrian regime, which have included the use of chemical weapons, sieges, mass executions and torture against civilians, have led to war crimes investigations.