The Syrian army and their allies managed to recapture the strategic town of al-Eis and Tal al-Eis during an intense night operation, military sources said Wednesday.
Winning back of Tal al-Eis has given the pro-government forces the high ground in Southern Aleppo, which allows them fire control over the strategic Aleppo-Damascus Highway (M-5 Highway) that flows into the provincial capital.
With thousands of soldiers in the strategic towns of Al-Hadher, Al-Safira, and Al-Eis, the pro-government forces have shifted their attention to the key village of Al-Zorba and the nearby ICARDA Farms that provide the government forces a gateway to regions Northeast of Idlib province.
The Syrian army and popular forces have pushed their way to the outskirts of the ICARDA Farms, where they are currently engaged in a fierce battle with Al-Nusra Front, Jund Al-Aqs, Ahrar Al-Sham Movement, Ajnad Al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army’s “Division 13”.
In addition to their assault on the ICARDA Farms, the government forces are also pushing West towards Al-Zorba as they look to cross the Aleppo-Damascus Highway and cutoff the extremist rebels completely.
Clashes are currently ongoing between the rebel and government forces; however, preliminary reports from southern Aleppo indicate the latter is still on the move.
On Tuesday, a battlefield source said that the Syrian Army, National Defense Forces (NDF), Hezbollah, and Harakat Al-Nujaba fighters, backed by other pro-government sources, in an intensive night operation, attacked terrorists’ defense line in al-Eis and forced them to retreat and eventually leave all their positions in the city and its adjacent areas.
“The victory for the Syrian Army against terrorists in Aleppo province was secured after a costly battle with early reports indicating heavy casualties on both sides.”
Recapturing Al-Eis by pro-government forces comes after terrorists, just 3 days ago, during a surprise offensive which some considered a de facto breach of the Syrian ceasefire had occupied the city.
However, terrorists inside the city and at its nearby hill top have came under hourly air raids and 3 separate government assaults over the past 2 days by Syrian Army forces.
On Monday, the Syrian Army forces and their allies, backed by Syrian and Russian air support, launched a comprehensive operation to recapture Al-Eis.
The Syrian army troops backed by Hezbollah forces and Russian Air Force first gained control over al-Eis on November 12, and then captured al-Eis heights in a consequent move against terrorists. They lost the town last week and earned it back on Wednesday.
Khaled Abu Saqqar was killed in the Syrian army’s attacks on the Al-Nusra Front’s military positions in the Northeastern part of Lattakia province on Tuesday.
Abu Saqqar had been a member of Al-Farouq Brigades affiliated to the Free Syrian Army before joining Al-Nusra Front.
Abu Saqqar’s convoy was targeted by the Syrian army along the road to the Kurdish Mountains (Jabal Al-Akrad) in Northeastern Lattakia.
Abu Saqqar is infamous for video showing him eating the organ of a dead Syrian soldier in Homs province in 2013.
In a relevant development on Monday, the Al-Nusra Front terrorist group’s spokesman and 19 other militants were killed and several more were wounded in the joint airstrike of the Russian and Syrian fighter jets in the Northwestern province of Idlib.
Abu Foras al-Souri, his son and several senior commanders of al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front had participated in a secret meeting in the village of Kafr Jales.
The Syrian and Russian Air Forces, tipped off by the intelligence agents, traced and targeted the venue of the meeting, which ended in the killing of al-Souri, his son and 19 senior commanders of the terrorist group.
There were several non-Syrian commanders among the killed terrorists in the attack.
Al-Souri was one of founding members of al-Nusra Front and one of senior members of the Front’s Consultative Assembly.
Al-Souri had participated in Afghanistan war in 1980s as one of members of al-Qaeda.
He had close relation with Senator John McCain and General Paul Vallely.
Commander of Nineveh Operations said Iraqi forces foiled ISIL’s gas attack near al-Nasr village to the South of the city of Mosul.
There have been reports that the Takfiri militants used internationally banned chlorine gas during attacks in areas near the Central city of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, in July 2015.
Also in August 2015, an Iraqi official disclosed that the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group used the poisonous mustard gas during withdrawal from Al-Anbar University.
“The Iraqi troops were exposed to mustard gas in the munitions fired by the ISIL as they were winning back the Anbar University,” Samir al-Shavili, a media advisor of Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism, told FNA then.
In a relevant development earlier on Wednesday, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department on arms control said the SIL terrorists have used sulfur mustard gas, a banned chemical warfare agent, at least three times in Syria and Iraq since the beginning of the year.
“In spite of the many crimes involving the use of chemical weapons that have been committed by terrorists on the territory of Syria and Iraq, the United Nations Security Council has not responded yet. It is becoming harder and harder to block the Russian proposals under the pressure of facts,” Mikhail Ulyanov told RIA Novosti.
According to our data, ISIL Takfiri militants used the sulfur mustard at least three times in the first quarter of 2016. This is a dangerous chemical agent, the use of which is a serious crime.”
The statement comes a day after a military source told RIA Novosti that ISIL used a chemical substance in an attack against a Syrian army airbase in the province of Deir Ezzur.
In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that Moscow calls for a separate convention to cover the issue of chemical terrorism as the existing international law does not solve the issue.
“Losing battles in several other provinces means losing Raqqa,” one of ISIL’s senior commanders in Raqqa province said in a warning message to ISIL ranks through the social media.
He cautioned that fewer ISIL militants can now be seen throughout Raqqa city, and said a majority of “ISIL members have been sent to warfronts in Hasaka, Homs and Deir Ezzur provinces to prevent the Syrian army’s further advances there”.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, informed sources disclosed that the ISIL terrorists in Raqqa province are badly terrified by the Syrian army’s recent military gains in the Eastern and the Western parts of Homs province and are deeply concerned about pro-government troops’ imminent operations in Raqqa.
“The ISIL terrorists are so deeply afraid of the Syrian army’s advances that they have resorted to arresting and executing civilians and citizens,” a battlefield source said.
The source noted that the ISIL terrorists have executed six people and took their dead bodies to an unknown place, and said, “The Takfiri terrorists also took another citizen to an unknown place after badly beating him up in front of other citizens.”
In a relevant development on Monday, the Syrian fighter jets destroyed a former government building which used by the ISIL.
Also on Monday, the Syrian fighter jets, in a series of combat sorties, pounded the ISIL strongholds in the Western part of Raqqa province.
The ISIL strongholds in the strategic Tabaqa airbase were heavily targeted by the Syrian army’s aircraft.
The air raid inflicted major losses on the terrorist group’s military hardware and a number of terrorists were also killed in the strike.
Reports said on Saturday that the Syrian warplanes, tipped off by intelligence agents about the venue of ISIL commanders’ meeting, bombed Raqqa governor-general’s building, killing several terrorist commanders, including the Emir of Raqqa.
The Syrian fighter jets targeted heavily the building of the governor-general in the Central parts of Raqqa, where senior ISIL commanders and Emir of Raqqa Abu Mojahid Libi were in a secret meeting.
Several ISIL commanders and the Emir were killed and several more were wounded in the airstrikes.
Military sources said on Wednesday that scores of Takfiri terrorists were killed and wounded in Tal al-Sheiheb al-Shamali and Thalfaa regions during the Syrian army unit’s operations.
The weapons, ammunition, a vehicle equipped with a cannon and a mortar launcher were also destroyed during the operations, the sources added.
In a similar event in the same region in Sweida, tens of ISIL terrorists were killed or wounded and their military equipment was destroyed in the Syrian Army offensives on Monday.
The Syrian army stormed the ISIL positions near Tal al-Sheiheb al-Janoubi, which ended in the killing or wounding of dozens of the terrorists, while the militants’ military vehicles and equipment sustained major damage too.
Also on Friday, the Syrian army and popular forces continued their advances in the Northeastern parts of Sweida province, and destroyed ISIL’s gathering centers there.
The ISIL’s military positions were razed down by Syrian army and popular forces near Tal al-Sheiheb al-Janoubi.
Scores of ISIL terrorists were killed and wounded in the Syrian army’s attacks on their positions.
The Takfiri terrorists’ military hardware also sustained heavy losses in the army’s attacks.
The Al-Nusra Front terrorists were pushed back from their strongholds in Northern parts of Aleppo province.
Scores of Takfiri terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battle with the Syrian government forces.
The Syrian army and popular force also continued their military gains in other key provinces across Syria.
Aleppo
The Syrian army, National Defense Forces (NDF) and Hezbollah have sent thousands of soldiers along with Russian and Iranian military advisors to the Southern Aleppo front in order to begin a large-scale military operation to push the Takfiri terrorists back from the remaining villages under ISIL’s control.
The Syrian army is preparing for massive offensive against the Takfiri terrorists’ military positions in Aleppo province as large reinforcements would arrive in the region soon.
Meantime, Aleppo’s joint operations room in a statement asked the people to leave the regions where terrorists are present because fierce clashes will take place in the coming hours.
The Syrian army and its allies reiterated in the statement that hellfire will be waiting for the terrorist groups in all Northern, Southern and Western warfronts in Aleppo province in coming hours.
Also on Tuesday, the Syrian army and their allies, backed by Syrian and Russian air support, launched a comprehensive operation to recapture the strategic town of Al-Eis in Aleppo province.
“As a preliminary phase of the operation, the Syrian and Russian fighter jets conducted several airstrikes over the terrorists’ positions and their fortification in Al-Eis, and the nearby village of Banes, hitting a number of targets to facilitate the advance of the ground forces,” the source pointed out.
Later, the Syrian Army troops, Hezbollah fighters and National Defense Forces (NDF), took the initiative to attack the terrorist positions in al-Eis and its nearby areas and engaged in intense battles with terrorists to recapture the town South of Aleppo province.
Meantime, sources said the Syrian forces have repeatedly repelled militants’ attacks in recent days and managed to kill a large number of them.
The Syrian Army repulsed an al-Nusra Front terrorists’ large-scale offensive on its positions North of Aleppo and inflicted heavy loss and damage on the terrorists, a military source said on Tuesday.
“The Al-Nusra Front dispatched more than 400 militants to attack a number of military points and positions along with Aleppo-Afrin road, North of Aleppo city, yet the Syrian soldiers and their allies, not only managed to rebuff the attack, but also delivered heavy blows to them, pushing them back to their positions,” the battlefield source pointed out.
The Syrian Army’s general command also said in a statement that “more than 400 terrorists, supported by armored vehicles, artillery and equipped with mortars and other sophisticated heavy guns, have participated in the attacks to break the army’s fortifications or cutting off Aleppo-Afrin road, however the offensive was conducted to no avail, other than more casualties which were inflicted on the terrorists”.
Homs
Military sources said on Tuesday the Syrian Army forces and their popular allies are now moving toward al-Buseiri and Khunayfis in Homs province after their recent victory in Quaryatayn.
“Syrian Army troops and National Defense Forces (NDF) are pushing to break into terrorists’ defense lines in Homs province and are moving toward al-Buseiri and Khunayfis,” the source said.
If the Syrian army manages to capture al-Buseiri and Khunayfis, in fact they will have then several large oil fields under their control, securing all regions from Quaryatayn in Western Homs to Palmyra in the Easternmost.
The victory if attained will exert severe financial pressure on terrorist groups and pave the ground for recapturing Al-Sukhneh, subsequently.
Syrian military sources recently disclosed that winning back the ancient city of al-Quaryatayn would be followed by greater operations in the Western part of Homs province.
“The liberation of al-Quaryatayn would be a prelude to more military operations in Homs province,” an informed military source said.
The main aim of al-Quaryatayn operations was paralyzing the ISIL terrorist group in Homs province in such way that the Takfiri terrorist group could not conduct military operations anymore.
Deir Ezzur
The Syrian air force hit hard the military positions of the Takfiri terrorists in Deir Ezzur province, killing a senior ISIL commander.
Khalaf al-Arif, nicknamed Abu Hamad, was killed in a Syrian airstrike on his vehicle in the outskirts of the town of al-Bu Layl in Deir Ezzur province.
Several military and armored vehicles of the ISIL terrorists were destroyed in al-Tabaqa airport, Northern part of al-Jefra region and al-Baqiliya region.
The Syrian army, meantime, repulsed the ISIL attacks on al-Mura’yeh farms, inflicting heavy losses on the Takfiri terrorists.
Notorious terrorist Abu Serajeddin and a Turkmen national named Abu Amir al-Turki were among the terrorists killed in the Syrian army’s military operations.
The army units also destroyed seven military vehicles of the terrorists in al-Jefra region.
Another three military vehicles of the ISIL which were equipped with heavy machineguns were also destroyed in al-Jefra region.
Hama
The Syrian army backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) continued their advance against ISIL terrorists, seizing back several regions around the strategic village of Abu Hanaya in the Eastern part of Hama province, a battlefield source said on Tuesday.
“The Syrian soldiers also made another push near the village of Sheikh Hilal, delivering heavy blows to the terrorist group which is under constant blitz by pro-government forces in this part of Hama province,” the source indicated.
Meanwhile, a source on the ground reported that Syrian Army and its allies targeted ISIL positions along the Salamiyah-Raqqa road, killing at least 20 Takfiri terrorists and destroying their weapons and ammunition.
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