Syria in Last 24 Hours:

Army Regains Control over More Strategic Regions in Aleppo City

Rasa - The Syrian army continued marching on the militant-held positions in several districts of the city of Aleppo, and established full control over more strategic areas in the city.

News ID: 425710

Date: 12 December 2016 - 17:41

RNA - Several militants were killed and injured in the fighting with the Syrian troops over strategic districts.

The Syrian troops also inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists in other provinces.

Aleppo

Syrian Army soldiers and popular forces scored more victories against terrorists in the Southeastern part of Aleppo city and captured three more neighborhoods after hours of clashes and inflicting major casualties on the militants.

The pro-government forces captured the neighborhood of Bab al-Maqam, al-E'ejam South of the Citadel of Aleppo and the strategic neighborhood of al-Salehin.

Meantime, reports said the army has decreased intensity of its attacks on militants to ease civilians' exist from the districts still under militants' control, although it has not halted operations.

In the meantime, the army men and the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters continued to advance against the militants in Karam al-Da'ada neighborhood, taking control over more buildings.

Reports said earlier on Sunday that the army troops and Hezbollah pushed Jeish al-Fatah terrorists from other positions in Southeastern Aleppo and tightened their siege on the militant-held districts.

The army soldiers started hitting Jeish al-Fatah's positions in al-Asileh neighborhood from the direction of al-Safasefeh and Bab al-Nairab, winning control over the entire al-Asileh neighborhood after hours of fierce clashes.

The army troops also engaged in fierce clashes with terrorists in the neighborhood of Karam al-Da'ada and captured several housing complexes that inflicted a number of casualties on the terrorists.

The army also started offensive on terrorists' defense lines in the neighborhood of al-Ma'adi in Southeast Aleppo city and seized control of several building blocks.

Based on the reports, the army and popular forces are about to storm terrorist centers in the districts of al-Kelaseh and al-Ferdows.

The army men and Hezbollah fighters also carried out joint offensive against terrorists' positions in the neighborhoods of al-Mosharefeh and al-Jaloum towards Bostan al-Qasr (Bustan al-Kaser) and managed to advance against the militants.

Deir Ezzur

The Syrian Army destroyed three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) of the ISIL terrorist group carrying improvised explosives in the Eastern province of Deir Ezzur.

The army soldiers managed to shoot down 3 bomb-laden drones of the ISIL that were flying over Tal Sannouf hill.

The improvised bombs attached to the drones were made of grenades for an anti-tank grenade launcher (most likely RPG-7).

According to the reports coming from Deir Ezzur city, ISIL uses such armed drones more and more often desperately looking for any possibility to penetrate the army's defense lines.

Dara'a

Syrian Army soldiers continued their advances against terrorist groups in Northern Dara'a and completed siege on the town of al-Mahaja in Northern Dara'a, media sources said.

The Arabic language al-Hadath news website quoted field sources as saying that the army troops have trapped militants in al-Mahaja in a circle of forces after liberation of the town of al-Faqi.

Al-Hadath added that there have been negotiations with terrorist groups in al-Mahaja to hand over control of the town to the army men without military operation.

Both reports and defense analysts said militants inside the town have no way out but to join the reconciliation process or leave the town towards militant-held regions in Idlib.

Al-Mahaja is of strategic importance as it overlooks directly the Dara'a-Damascus highway and is located near al-Lijah region that is one of the most important strongholds of the terrorists in Eastern Dara'a.

Homs

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Syrian Army soldiers with aerial support of Russian fighter jets fended off an ISIL attack near Palmyra, killing over 300 terrorists.

"During the night, Syrian government forces, actively supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, repelled all attacks by (ISIL) terrorists on (government positions in) Palmyra. The invading side actively used car bombs, armor and rocket artillery systems," the ministry's statement read.

According to Moscow, the Russian warplanes conducted 64 airstrikes on the militants' positions and reserves, while eleven battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, 31 cars with heavy machineguns were destroyed, and over 300 militants were killed.

Reports said earlier on Sunday that the army troops with the back up of the Russian and Syrian fighter jets managed to drive ISIL out of the neighborhoods they lost to the terrorists on Saturday, and imposed full control over the historical city of Palmyra (Tadmur) in Eastern Homs.

The army soldiers, backed up by the Russian and Syrian warplanes, pushed ISIL terrorists back from neighborhoods near Palmyra's entrance, inflicting major casualties on the militants.

ISIL carried out one more large-scale attack on government positions at the Eastern entrance of Palmyra on Saturday night. They took control of the strategic height of al-Tar in the Northern side of Palmyra and the village of al-Ameriyeh Northwest of the city. They further laid siege on the city.

As the ISIL terrorists were entering the Eastern districts of Palmyra, the army troops started to evacuate civilians from the city and transfer them to the T4 region and airport, but after arrival of reinforcements, the government forces carried out crushing attacks on the terrorists and retook some of the lost neighborhoods with the back of the Russian and Syrian aircraft.

Hama-Idlib

The Syrian Air Force carried out several combat sorties over the gatherings and movements of Jeish al-Fatah coalition of terrorist groups in Northern Hama and different parts of Idlib, inflicting major losses on the militants.

The fighter jets targeted terrorists' concentration centers in Madaya, Tarmaleh, Kafr Abid and Abedin in Idlib, killing or wounding tens of militants and destroying several bases and vehicles.

The warplanes also hit the gatherings of Jeish al-Fatah in al-Masaseneh, al-Lahaya, Skeik and Aqayrabat in Northern Hama, leaving several militants dead.

In the meantime, the Syrian and Russian fighter jets targeted terrorists' position in al-Latamina, Taybat al-Imam, Kafr Zita and Banish in Northern Hama, inflicting a number casualties on the militants.

Also the Syrian and Russian warplanes launched airstrikes against the terrorist groups' gathering centers in Kafr Zita, al-Latamina, Halfaya, al-Tayyeba and the Northern parts of Souran in Northern Hama as well as al-Tamanna, Sarmin, Khan Sheikhoun, Banish, Ta'oum and Ma'arat Masrin in the Southern parts of Idlib on Thursday which inflicted heavy casualties on Fatah al-Sham Front (formerly al-Nusra Front) and destroyed a large number of their military vehicles.

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