Turkey-backed militants seize Dabiq from Daesh

Rasa - Turkish-sponsored militants have reportedly taken control of a symbolically important town in Syria’s northwestern province of Aleppo from the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

News ID: 424347

Date: 16 October 2016 - 19:42

RNA - The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Sunday that the militants had captured Dabiq, located about 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo and around 10 kilometers south of Syria’s border with Turkey and the nearby village of Soran.

Dabiq holds great value to Daesh because of a prophecy, which the extremists feature heavily in their propaganda. It states that the town will be the site of an apocalyptic battle.

Elsewhere in the province, the Syrian army troops and their allies engaged foreign-backed terrorists, killing dozens of them.

Syria’s official SANA news agency reported on Sunday that 29 terrorists were slain during the fighting in the Aleppo neighborhoods of Majbal Barij and Masaken Ibrahim, adding that the clashes also left 37 people wounded.

Similar clashes also broke out elsewhere in Aleppo Tarab, leaving a military commander with the Harakat Nour al-Din al- Zinki terror outfit dead. The officer was identified as Omar al-Sheikh, also known as Abu Aush.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army said that it had managed to wrest control of a hill and a cemetery in the northern edge of Hama.

Separately, news websites affiliated with terrorists reported the killing of Abu Omar, a commander of the Saudi-backed Ahrar al-Sham terrorist group, and his brother Abu Qassim on the outskirts of Aleppo.

Additionally on Sunday, the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group fired mortar shells at Abu al-Alaya village in the eastern edge of Homs.

Three Syrian citizens also lost their lives after an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in Mazra’at Shahin in northern Aleppo that is in under the control of the so-called Free Syrian Army.

Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, remains divided between government forces in the west and foreign-backed terrorists in the east, making it a frontline battleground.

On September 22, Syria announced the start of a new military operation in Aleppo aimed at driving out the terrorists occupying the eastern part of the strategic city.

The Syrian army campaign came three days after a truce, brokered by Russia and the US, came to an end across Syria.

Damascus refused to extend the deal after the US-led coalition, which is purportedly fighting Daesh, violated the agreement by hitting a Syrian military base near the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr, leaving more than 80 Syrian troops dead and some 100 others wounded.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy over the past five and a half years.

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