End of ISIS? Putin ‘sending 150,000 soldiers to Syria to WIPE OUT evil Islamic State’

VLADIMIR Putin is preparing to send 150,000 troops to Syria in a bid to wipe out the evil Islamic State once and for all as he hints at joining the West following the Paris attacks.

The Russian leader is reportedly mounting an enormous military mission to take control of the terror group's stronghold of Raqqa.

The city is the self-declared capital of ISIS in Syria and is patrolled by as many as 5,000 jihadi members.

Putin is set to mobilise 150,000 reservists who he conscripted into the military in September.

Following the Paris attacks, Putin hinted he was ready to join forces with the West to tackle Islamic State.

He told David Cameron: "The recent tragic events in France show that we should join efforts in preventing terror."

An insider revealed: "It is very clear that Russia wants to sweep up the west of the country, taking Raqqa and all the oil and gas resources around Palmyra.

"This is fast becoming a race to Raqqa – to secure the oil fields they need to cleanse the region of insurgents, and the IS capital is vital to do that."

In a show of strength, Russian jets have previously obliterated nine ISIS outposts in just 24 hours using bunker-busting bombs.

Russian jets pounded terrorist targets and blew up a command centre, potentially killing dozens of fighters.

Confirming the successful raids, Andrei Kartapolov from the Russian army vowed to ramp up the pressure, saying: "We will not only continue strikes… We will also increase their intensity."

Speaking at the time of the attacks, in October, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: "Over the past 24 hours, Sukhoi Su-34 and Su-24M fighter jets have performed 20 sorties and hit nine Islamic State installations.

“A bunker-busting BETAB-500 air bomb dropped from a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber near Raqqa has eliminated the command post of one of the terror groups, together with an underground storage facility for explosives and munitions.

"These and other highly exact means of attack in recent days have been used to target objects of Islamic State terrorists.

"Command posts, stores of weapons and oil products, workshops where weapons of suicide bombers are made."

Meanwhile a terrorism expert revealed to Express.co.uk ISIS have vastly exaggerated their military strength and called on Western leaders to launch a co-ordinated fightback which would obliterate the hate group. 

Dr Afzal Ashraf said ISIS has become its own worst enemy with its campaign of terror against the West, which has prompted an international backlash.

He said: "This mythical state will disappear in a matter of hours once the international community decides to act. 

"It won't take very long at all to drive them, if not out of all of Iraq or Syria, then certainly the majority of their territories. 

"They will hide in towns, but I would say do not to follow them as they would use innocent civilians as human shields."

David Cameron initially gave the Russian air strikes a cautious welcome and said the UK would need to look "very carefully" at Putin's operations.

Following the Paris terror attacks which killed at least 129 people, David Cameron said he was hoping to convince Parliament to support air strikes against ISIS.

He told the BBC: "I have always said I think that it is sensible that we should, ISIL [ISIS] don't recognise a border between Iraq and Syria and neither should we but I need to build the argument, I need to take it to parliament, I need to convince more people.

"We won't hold that vote unless we can see that parliament would endorse action because to fail on this would be damaging, it is not a question of damaging the government it is a question of not damaging our country and its reputation in the world."

He has already pledged to "beef up" the SAS and double the number of British drones to combat ISIS militants in an interview ahead of today's Conservative conference.

The Prime Minister said investment in special forces and surveillance was essential to meeting the terrorist threat facing the UK.

He revealed the UK will buy a fleet of 20 new Protector drones capable of targeting IS extremists in Iraq and Syria.