"On the night of August 12, for the first time since the start of military operations against the IS terrorist group in Syria, government forces managed to organize and hold a masterly operation tactical landings in the rear of the militants followed the defeat and capture of the village of El-Kder [about 120 km West of the city of Deir ez-Zor]," read a statement from the Russian defense ministry, adding that "Russian military advisers took a direct role in the preparation and control of the operation."