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9 killed in militant mortar attack on Damascus

Sunday, 27 December 2015 8:46 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 27 December 2015 8:46 AM ]

In this file picture, Takfiri militants prepare to fire a mortar towards Syrian government forces stationed in Tel Merhi and Deir Adass villages in Syria’s southwestern province of Dara’a. ©Reuters

At least nine people have been killed in a mortar attack by foreign-backed militants on the Syrian capital city of Damascus, reports say.

Based on Russian media reports, mortar rounds targeted the al-Wafadeen refugee camp as well as the al-Assad and al-Abbasiyyin neighborhoods of Damascus.

“According to our data, nine were killed, and 16 were taken by the cars of the Red Crescent to hospitals. The sustained injuries are of varying severity,” a local hospital medical employee told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

The attack was launched by members of the terror group calling itself Jaysh al-Islam.

The assault came after Zahran Alloush, the notorious leader of the terrorist group, was killed in an operation by the Syrian Air Force in what is seen as a major intelligence coup for Damascus.

In a statement issued late on Friday, Syria’s General Command of the Army and Armed Forces confirmed that Alloush and several other leaders of terrorist organizations were killed in the air campaign against terrorist hideouts in the Damascus countryside of Eastern Ghouta.

Zahran Alloush, the slain leader of Jaysh al-Islam terrorist group

The so-called Jaysh al-Islam, which is influenced by Wahhabism, is one of several Takfiri terrorist groups operating in Syria. According to Syria's official news agency, SANA, the organization is armed and funded by Saudi Arabia.

The conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the UN.

On December 18, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing an international roadmap for a Syrian peace process for the country, which has been suffering from foreign-backed militancy since March 2011.

The UN says 12.2 million people, including more than 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance in Syria. The foreign-sponsored militancy has also displaced 7.6 million people.

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