ISIS declares Holy War against Russia

The Islamic State (ISIL) has called on Muslims worldwide to launch jihad against Russian and US citizens.

Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani called on the Muslim youth worldwide to start a holy war against Russians and Americans, who, according to ISIL, are waging a "crusaders' war" against Muslims, as cited by Reuters.

Russia and the United States are carrying out separate campaigns against the Islamic State. Moscow launched airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syria's President Bashar Assad. Since September 2014, a US-led coalition has been bombing ISIL positions in Syria without the approval of the UN Security Council or Syrian authorities.

Earlier, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told reporters that Islamic State fighters have lost a large part of their weapons and equipment since Russia has stepped up its airstrikes in Syria. This has forced the group to "set in motion the entire logistics network available to the terrorists in order to transport ammunition and fuel from the Raqqa province."

In the past 24 hours, Russian aircraft carried out 88 sorties on 86 terrorist infrastructure positions in the Raqqa, Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo regions in Syria.