The number of FSA personnel who have come over to the Syrian Army is constantly growing, Russia’s Defense Force Chief of Staff, Army General Valery Gerasimov, said.

He added that Russia’s task force in Syria is also supplying FSA units with “weapons, munitions and other material supplies.” In this way, Russia is “promoting the [Syrian] government troops and opposition groups joining efforts to defeat the terrorists,” the general said.

According to the General Staff, for the purpose of cutting off the terrorists' financing, Russian jets bomb oil-processing infrastructure controlled by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), such as oil refineries, oil pipeline pumping stations and oil tankers en route to the Turkish border.

#Russia is ready to offer air support to Syrian opposition fighting #ISIS - Lavrov http://on.rt.com/6ulc

Gerasimov said the Russian task force in Syria is delivering bomb and missile strikes solely on installations of terrorist infrastructure. He added that Russia has so far received no substantial support from countries Moscow considered partners in regard to fighting terrorism in Syria.

“In the course of battling radical Islamism we’ve not received support on the part of those [countries] we used to believe to be our partners. On the contrary, we received a stab in the back with a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet violating Syrian airspace and downing our Su-24,” General Gerasimov said at a briefing for foreign military attachés in Moscow.

Meanwhile rebels from a separate, recently-formed alliance of armed groups - including some that identify themselves as FSA – have confirmed to Reuters that their fighters benefited indirectly from Russian air strikes in a recent battle with militants, including the Al-Nusra Front. However, they denied any direct Russian support.