Russia eyeing Syria victory by year-end, will keep troops there: Ifax

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expects all "terrorists" in Syria to be destroyed by the end of the year and then plans to keep enough troops in the country to prevent any new conflict, the Interfax news agency cited a prominent Russian senator as saying on Monday.

"We will leave in Syria only those troops necessary to avert a possible repeat of this terrorism," the agency quoted Viktor Bondarev, the head of the upper house of parliament's defence and security committee, as saying.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)