Russia says flew 164 sorties in Syria in last three days

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian air force flew 164 sorties in Syria in the last three days, striking 285 Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra targets including ammunition stores and arms factories, the Russian defense ministry said on Monday. Russia says it has destroyed more than 800 terrorist targets in Syria since it began its campaign of air strikes on Sept. 30, an intervention Moscow says is aimed at destroying extremist Islamic militants, but which Washington says is also targeting moderate rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The defense ministry said air force jets destroyed two metal hangars housing a major al-Nusra ammunition store in the eastern Suburbs of Syria's capital, Damascus. Additionally, two Su-24 fighter jets hit a vehicle workshop in the northern Aleppo province where Islamic State militants were equipping cars with mortars and Zu-23 anti-aircraft cannons, the ministry said. Islamic State has taken control of large swathes of northern Syria as well as key control points in the country's east, where the defense ministry said Russian jets had also hit terrorist positions in the last three days. Further Russian strikes took place in the western Latakia, Idlib and Hama provinces where data compiled by the Institute for the Study of War shows there is no Islamic State or al-Nusra presence. A Reuters analysis of defense ministry data last week found that almost 80 percent of Russia's declared targets in Syria have been in areas not held by Islamic State. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Maria Kiselyova and Jack Stubbs; Editing by Andrew Osborn)