A footage screengrab of a Russian Su-34 jet bombing terrorists in Syria, provided by the Russian Defense Ministry on August 18, 2016.

MOSCOW, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Russia's air force destroyed over 1,000 terrorist facilities in Syria in the past week, a Russian newspaper reported on Thursday.

Russian aircraft flew over 360 combat sorties in Syria in the past week, said Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russian drones also carried out an estimated 140 reconnaissance flights and located over 190 terrorist infrastructure objects, the newspaper said.

Russia has been participating in operations against the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorist groups in Syria since September 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of the Russian forces in Syria in March 2016 as their objectives were broadly completed, leaving some Russian military personnel in the country to observe the ceasefire.