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Syria army makes fresh gains against terrorists

Tuesday, 29 December 2015 1:40 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 December 2015 3:31 PM ]

Syrian government forces monitor an area near the village of Khan Tuman, Aleppo Province, December 22, 2015. ©AFP

The Syrian army has retaken several areas from terrorist groups in the Arab country gripped by foreign-backed militancy for more than four years.

On Tuesday, Syrian army soldiers, backed by fighters from allied popular defense groups, gained control over the town of Burj al-Qasab, located in the northwestern province of Latakia, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.

Elsewhere in the southwestern province of Dara’a, Syrian government troops captured the Brigade 82 military base, situated close to the town of al-Shaykh Maskin.

An unidentified military source told SANA that army units inflicted heavy losses upon terrorist elements by destroying a number of vehicles belonging to militants.

The director of the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said Syrian army troops, backed by fighters from Lebanon's resistance movement Hezbollah, were engaged in fierce clashes with terrorists in Dara’a.

He further noted that al-Shaykh Maskin was strategically important as it is located on crossroads leading north to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and east to the city of As-Suwayda.

In another development on Tuesday, Syrian soldiers and popular defense forces seized control over the village of Hawwarin and the complex of Mahin, both situated in the central province of Homs. They also took control over arms depots in Mahin.

The Syrian Air Force further bombarded terrorists’ hideouts in two regions in the city of Deir ez-Zor.

Syrian army soldiers patrol near a building previously used for storing seeds in Dayr Hafir, Aleppo Province, December 2, 2015. ©AFP

Syrian forces have recently been making rapid advances against terrorists, who are committing heinous crimes against all religious groups, in several parts of the country.

The advances of the Syrian government forces against Daesh and other terrorist groups have been expedited by the air cover provided by Russia, which began on September 30 at the request of the Damascus government.

The crisis in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has so far claimed the lives of over 250,000 people and displaced nearly half of the country’s population within or out of its borders.

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