Syria in Last 24 Hours:

Army Repels Attacks on Gov't Positions in Deir Ezzur

Rasa - Syrian army soldiers repelled terrorists' massive attack on their positions in Deir Ezzur province after hours of clashes, inflicting major losses on them.

News ID: 426251

Date: 03 January 2017 - 18:26

RNA - The ISIL terrorists' large-scale attack to capture the government forces' positions near Deir Ezzur airbase was fended off by the strong defense of the Syrian military men.

Meantime, the Syrian army and popular forces continued their military advances in other parts of Syria, including Homs and Lattakia, over the past 24 hours.

Tens of terrorists were killed and dozens more were injured during the Syrian army's operations in Syria's key provinces.

Deir Ezzur

Syrian Army troops warded off ISIL's attack on their positions near a military airport South of Deir Ezzur, inflicting large casualties on them.

The army soldiers engaged in fierce clashes with the ISIL along the Eastern wall of Deir Ezzur airbase that left a number of militants dead or wounded and caused the rest of them to retreat from the battlefield to evade more casualties.

In the meantime, the army's missile and artillery units targeted movements and gatherings of ISIL in two neighborhoods of al-Sina'ah and al-Jabiliyeh, killing a number of the terrorists and destroying their rocket launchers and bases.

Homs

ISIL suffered a heavy death toll and its military equipment sustained major damage in a failed attack on the Syrian pro-government forces' positions near a key village in Eastern Homs.

The army men warded off ISIL's offensive on their positions in the village of Jubb al-Jarrah from the village of Unq al-Hawa, inflicting a number of casualties on the militants, and damaging their equipment.

Also, Syrian Army troops targeted ISIL terrorists' movements and gatherings in six different regions in Eastern Homs on Sunday, inflicting tens of casualties on the militants.

The army soldiers hit ISIL's concentration centers hard in the villages and towns of Arsouneh, East of Tiyas, East of Station 4, Ba'ar al-Wa'erah, near Qasr al-Hayer and in Eastern side of al-Quaryatayn, killing and wounding tens of militants and destroying their armored vehicles.

Idlib

Two notorious commanders of Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) were killed in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack on their vehicle on Sarmada-Batbu road in Northern Idlib.

Abu Omar al-Turkistani, one of the most important commanders and a main nominee for presiding the Militants' Council, was killed in a drone attack.

In the meantime, Khatab al-Qahtani, one of the most notorious commanders of Fatah al-Sham and al-Qaeda that accompanied Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan's war, was also in the vehicle and was killed right on the spot.

It is not yet clear who operated the drone and launched the attack.

Lattakia

The Syrian Army troops opened fire at a bus carrying Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) terrorists after it crossed Turkish border into Lattakia province, killing over 20 militants.

Syrian army's artillery and missile units targeted a military bus of Fatah al-Sham, carrying fresh recruits from Turkey into Lattakia.

The army attack on Fatah al-Sham's bus that had entered Syria via a Turkish border crossing left at least 20 militants dead and several more wounded.

In December, the army's artillery units pounded the military positions of al-Nusra Front near the village of al-Yamama in the Northern part of Lattakia province.

"The artillery shelling resulted in the destruction of the terrorists' military vehicles as well as death and injury of a number of terrorists in the vicinity of al-Yamama village," a military source said.

The Syrian army units, meantime, killed members of a terrorist group and destroyed their weapons in the surrounding areas of Borj al-Hayat village in Northern Lattakia, killing and wounding at least 15 militants.

Raqqa

The predominately Kurdish 'Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) continued to beat ISIL back form more positions West of Raqqa city in second phase of the Euphrates Rage Operation, taking control over one more key village in the region.

The Kurdish fighters have continued their anti-ISIL operations West of Raqqa city in the last three days and taken full control of the town of al-Mahmoudiyeh after killing tens of militants and destroying a number of their military vehicles.

The SDF meantime managed to advance six kilometers forward into the regions North of Raqqa from the direction of the town of Tal al-Saman.

Aleppo

Field sources disclosed on Monday that the Russian Army has established its first checkpost in the predominantly Kurdish-populated district of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo city to monitor security situation there.

The sources said that the army has set up the checkpost in Sheikh Maqsoud district to cooperate with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in controlling the security situation in the district.

The sources added that a group of Russian military police have been seen patrolling in Sheikh Maqsoud.

They added that at least 15 Russian soldiers have been stationed in the newly-established check point.

A media source confirmed the report and added that establishment of the security posts in Sheikh Maqsoud is important, specially by Russians that are a party to ensuring nationwide ceasefire.

Other sources said that the Russians are expected to set up their second checkpoint in the Eastern Neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud district in next few days.

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