Syria in Last 24 Hours:

ISIL's Main Strongholds in Southern Damascus Destroyed in Syrian Army Operation

Rasa - The government troops continued to advance against the terrorist groups in Southern Damascus province, destroying a number of key positions of the ISIL on Saturday.

News ID: 437306

Date: 22 April 2018 - 22:10

RNA - The army men stormed terrorists' position in al-Joreh area in al-Qadam region, and seized control over several points.

The army men further managed to push the terrorists back from their positions in Hajar al-Aswad region.

Meantime, the Syrian army continued its military advances in other parts of Syria over the past 24 hours.

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

Damascus

The Syrian Army troops continued to advance against the terrorist groups in the Southern part of Damascus province and destroyed a number of key positions of the ISIL on Saturday.

The army men stormed terrorists' position in al-Joreh area in al-Qadam region, and seized control over several points.

In the meantime, local sources reported that a tough battle is underway between the army men and terrorists in al-Tazamon region and near Yarmouk Refugee Camp.

They said that the army's missile and artillery units and the Syrian Air Force have been pounding terrorists' movements and positions in Yarmouk camp and Hajar al-Aswad.

The sources further said that a number of terrorists' positions, including their monitoring post in Hajar al-Aswad and their depots of arms and ammunition were destroyed in the army attacks.

Meantime, tensions were rising among ISIL terrorists over retreat from Southern Damascus after they sustained heavy defeats during a fresh offensive of the Syrian army on Saturday.

The army men, backed up by artillery and missile units, stormed ISIL's strongholds in Zalikheh area between al-Tazamon and Seyedi Meqdadi regions and seized control over more regions.

The army men imposed control over several buildings West of al-Tazamon.

Also, the army soldiers pushed the terrorists back from al-Mujahedeen mosque Southeast of Hajar al-Aswad.

In the meantime, the army's missile units targeted and destroyed a bomb-laden suicide vehicle of ISIL near Ibrahim Khalil Grand mosque South of Hajar al-Aswad before it could reach the army positons near Bardi Company building.

Field sources reported that harsh differences and tensions have started in ISIL's front as some terrorists call for surrender to the army or retreat, but, some others insist on continuing the war.

Idlib

The Syrian Army troops are to kick off an imminent operation against Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) terrorists in Idlib province to free Jisr al-Shughour strategic region, well-informed sources said on Saturday.

The sources said that the army has been forwarding thousands of its elite force equipped with military equipment to Western Idlib to launch an imminent operation to free Jisr al-Shughour region from Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at.

Dispatch of the army's Tiger Forces to the Jisr Al-Shughour battlefield would make the most sense for their next deployment as the Russian military plans to secure the Humeimim Airbase.

Aleppo

The Turkish Army General Staff announced in a statement on Saturday that a sum of 4,254 Kurdish fighters have been killed or held captive in the operation in Afrin region that started on January 20.

The statement said that the total number of PKK casualties and war prisoners has risen to 4,254 in Operation Olive Branch by the Turkish troops and Ankara-backed militants in Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo.

In the same statement, the General Staff also said air operations had been conducted against the PKK  between April 14 and 20 in Turkey’s Eastern provinces of Tunceli, Diyarbakir and Sirnak, as well as Northern Iraq, killing 37 gunmen.

According to Fars News Agancy, militant-affiliated websites reported earlier on Saturday that the Turkish Army has forwarded another military convoy to Idlib province amid reports on activation of more military posts to monitor truce in the Idlib de-escalation zone.

The sources said that the army's new military convoy entered Northern Idlib via Kafr Lusin border-crossing, heading towards silos of the town of al-Sarman near the town of Jarjanaz in Southeastern Idlib and the town of Morek in Northwestern Hama.

The websites further said that the convoy included five vehicles and nine more military vehicles, claiming that the dispatch of the new convoy is aimed at providing more support for the Turkish truce monitoring posts in the region.

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