Syria in Last 24 Hours:

Army Makes New Gains in Aleppo Countryside

Rasa - The Syrian army continued its mop-up operations in Southeastern Aleppo by purging terrorists from key villages and regions.

News ID: 434649

Date: 07 November 2017 - 22:17

RNA - The army units also took back the villages of Rasm al-Khala and Abisan and paved their way towards Deir Hafer region in the Southeastern part of Aleppo.

The army then focused on advancing towards other regions in Southeastern Aleppo.

The Syrian troops killed several terrorists and injured many more in fierce clashes over controlling of strategic regions. They also destroyed military equipment of the terrorists.

The Syrian army also continued its advances in other key provinces across Syria.

Aleppo

The Syrian Army troops and their popular allies hit the defense lines of Al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at or the Levant Liberation Board) hard in Southeastern Aleppo on Monday, taking control over more villages.

The army men drove Al-Nusra out of the villages of Rasm al-Khala and Abisan and Tal (hill) al-Sawan South of the town of Khanasser in Southeastern Aleppo after liberating the villages of Hajarah Kabirah, Hajarah Saqira and Jubb Awaz in Southwest of Khanasser, inflicting major losses on the terrorists.

In the meantime, the army's artillery and missile units pounded the terrorists' positions East of the village of Ramleh Southwest of Khanasser, killing or wounding a number of militants.

Aleppo Police Chief Gen. Issam al-Shelli said that the police found a mass grave in the town of Deir Hafer in Eastern Aleppo, containing the bodies of eight people killed by the ISIL.

Al-Shelli reported that the mass grave contains the bodies of eight civilians murdered by ISIL on June 26, 2014 for raising the Syrian flag in various areas in Deir Hafer, adding that preliminary investigations and local testimonies indicated that the victims were imprisoned for a month before the terrorists killed them and left their bodies hanging for three days in the town square.

He further said that after receiving information about the mass grave on Saturday, police patrols headed to the site and recovered the eight bodies then sent them to forensic experts, adding that four of the victims were identified by their families via the remains of their clothes.

Hama

A large number of terrorists have joined the Al-Nusra Front in Northeastern Hama to prevent the Syrian Army troops' devastating advances towards Idlib province, dissident-affiliated websites reported on Monday.

The websites said that the army men's operation in Northeastern Hama and Southern Aleppo is underway to pave the ground for the Idlib liberation operation, adding that a large number of militants have joined the Al-Nusra in Hama province to prevent the army from reaching Idlib.

The websites further said that the terrorist groups have dispatched a large volume of arms, ammunition and military equipment to the region.

Meantime, the Syrian pro-government forces asked civilians in the Northwestern province of Idlib to stay away from terrorist groups' positions and headquarters amid the Syrian Army troops' advances against Al-Nusra Front in Northeastern Hama near the border with Idlib.

"We are addressing the innocent and honorable civilians of Idlib who have not been involved with Al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham or the Free Syrian Army to seek safety away from the terrorists before the sweeping ground invasion toward Abu al-Dhohour airbase begins," according to gov't troops.

The army soldiers have launched their operation in the two flanks of Southern Aleppo and Northeastern Hama to access Idlib, driving the Al-Nusra out of a large number of regions.

Deir Ezzur

A high-ranking Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) official said on Monday that the US continues to supply them with arms and has recently delivered 120 trucks loaded with heavy armament and armored vehicles for the Deir Ezzur operation.

"The US has supplied us with Hummer armored vehicles and heavy armament for the Deir Ezzur operation, including missiles, infra-red guidance missiles, machine guns, mine throwers, Kalashnikov assault rifles and other ammunition," the SDF source told Sputnik Turkiye on condition of anonymity.

According to the high-ranking official, the armaments and vehicles have been brought from the territory of Northern Iraq through the Semelka checkpoint into Rojava, the territory where the Syrian Kurds live. From there, the trucks with weaponry left for the territories which have been cleaned from ISIL to the North of Deir Ezzur.

The total number of trucks amounted to 120; the source, however said that they need more.

"We are advancing, our forces need to operate in the areas of combat and we do need armored vehicles. We have lost many fighters who were killed in mortar shelling by ISIL terrorists because they did not have armor protection," he explained.

He further elaborated that ISIL terrorists use sniper rifles and mine throwers. If SDF fighters had enough of armored vehicles and heavy weaponry, there would have been a lot less victims. However the US officers are there on the ground and have a chance to assess the situation themselves. They promised to meet the demands of SDF in additional armaments, he concluded.

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