Syria in Past 24 Hours:

Army Imposes Control over 80 Percent of Dara'a Province

Rasa - The Syrian Army troops continued to advance against terrorists in Dara'a on Wednesday after earning control over four-fifths of the Southern province.

News ID: 438633

Date: 12 July 2018 - 21:32

RNA - The Syrian Army troops continued to advance against terrorists in Dara'a on Wednesday after earning control over four-fifths of the Southern province.

Dara'a

The army men drove terrorists out of Wheat Silos, Gas Company Building and Central Prison in Dara'a city outskirts after completing mop-up operation in Qaraz region.

Field sources said that the army has expanded control over eighty percent of Dara'a after its successful operation in Qaraz.

In the meantime, the army's engineering units started cleansing the newly-freed regions and found a large volume of military equipment, weapons and ammunition, including tanks, US-made missiles, mortar shells, RPG rockets, bombs and western communication devices.

Also on Wednesday, militants in four more regions in Northern Dara'a joined a peace agreement with the Damascus government as the Syrian army troops are completing control over the Southern province.

Militant groups in Salmin, Kafr Shams, Kafr Nasej and Aqraba regions eventually endorsed a peace agreement with the army to hand over their positions to the pro-government forces.

Based on the agreement, the militants have to hand over their weapons and apply for government amnesty and those militants who refuse to join the agreement should leave Dara'a.

Affiliation of more militant-held regions to the reconciliation plan came after the army advances in the last two weeks and the government forces' control over eighty percent of land in the Southern province of Dara'a.

In the meantime, local sources said that civilians in the terrorists' stronghold town of Ankhal in Northern Dara'a poured into the streets and called for expulsion of Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) from their region.

Other sources, meantime, said that the Free Syrian Army and Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at engaged in a fresh round of infighting that left a number of civilians dead or wounded.

Also in the past 24 hours, Adham al-Akrad, the notorious commander of the terrorists in Dara'a province that was strictly opposing peace with the Damascus government, surrendered to the Syrian Army troops.

Adham al-Akrad, one of the most dogged field commanders of the Free Syrian Army and commander of the artillery regiment of the terrorist group in Southern Syria, handed over his weapon and surrendered to the Damascus forces.

Al-Akrad had once said if Moscow falls Dara'a will not fall.

Al-Akrad pointed to the rapid advances of the Syrian army in Dara'a province, saying that he had no way but resuming talks with the Damascus forces.

Gaps are still widening in the terrorist front and the terrorist commanders are accusing each others of betrayal after a large number of militants and their commanders decided to surrender to the army men in Dara'a province.

Also on Wednesday, the Syrian army troops continued storming terrorists' positions Northwest of Dara'a city and managed to free more lands.

The army men struck terrorists' strongholds in Northwestern countryside of Dara'a city and liberated Tal al-Ash'ari region West of the town of Tafas.

Militants in Tafas had previously joined the peace agreement with the army.

In the meantime, field sources in the village of Jadal reported that other units of the army discovered a large volume of arms and ammunition, including France-made APILS 112 mm anti-tank missile launchers.

Also in the past 24 hours, the Syrian army troops kicked off a large-scale anti-ISIL operation in Western Dara'a, driving terrorists out of several strategic points.

The army men stormed ISIL's strongholds and captured Jalin Housings, moving towards Jalin townships.

Field sources said that the clashes launched after ISIL attacked Hayt township that is controlled by other militant groups, adding that the army's artillery and missile units pounded ISIL's movements and prevented them from advancing towards Hayt.

In the meantime, the Syrian Air Force launched several strikes on the ISIL-affiliated Jeish Khaled bin Walid terrorist group in the Yarmouk Basin region, near the border of the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian airstrikes specifically targeted the terrorist group’s positions near the towns of Tafas and Nawa in Western Dara'a.

Idlib

The Syrian Air Force pounded the positions and movements of Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at in the Northwestern province of Idlib, inflicting major losses on the militants on Wednesday.

The warplanes struck heavily Tahrir al-Sham's strongholds and movements in the villages and townships of Jisr al-Shughour, Basnaqoul, Einata, al-Bashiriyeh, Mashmashan, Farikeh, Orum al-Jowz, Kaniseh Bani Azz and Mahmabal in Western Idlib and also al-Rami in Southern Idlib.

A number of terrorists were killed and several positions were destroyed in the air raids.

The air raids were carried out a few hours after Tahrir al-Sham's heavy attack on army positions in Northern Lattakia.

In the meantime, the army's artillery and missile units opened heavy fire at terrorists' positions in the villages of al-Mantar and Farikeh in Western Idlib and other militant-held regions in Southern Idlib.

Also on Wednesday, differences and feuds are increasing among the non-Syrian members of Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at, known as al-Turkistani Party, in Northern Syria amid reports on the Syrian Army's imminent operation in the province.

Militant-affiliated websites disclosed that a fresh wave of defections has been reported among the foreign members of Tahrir al-Sham, known as al-Turkistani Party.

The websites further said that Abu Mohammad Mansour, one of the commanders of al-Turkistani, has seized leadership of the terrorist group in a coup against al-Turkistani's former commander Abu Ibrahim.

In the meantime, a large number of terrorists were killed in heavy fighting between ISIL and Horas al-Din along a road to the village of Hafsarja in Northwestern Idlib.

Field sources said that 220 terrorists, including 144 Syrians affiliated to Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at and other groups, have been killed in Idlib province since April 26.

Sweida

The Syrian army troops fended off ISIL's heavy attack in Eastern Sweida, inflicting major losses on the terrorists on Wednesday.

The army men engaged in a tough battle with ISIL in Tal Barakat, Tal Oliya regions and near the village of al-Razimeh in Eastern Sweida and managed to beat the terrorists back.

In the meantime, the army's artillery and missile units pounded ISIL's movements in the battlefield.

ISIL suffered heavy casualties and its military hardware sustained major damage in the failed attack.

Raqqa

According to Fars News Agancy, Abu Jasim al-Raqawi, a notorious commander of the US-backed Kurdish militia, was killed in a bomb explosion orchestrated by unknown raiders in Raqqa city on Wednesday.

Abu Jasim, a senior commander within the ranks of the US-backed Kurdish militia, was killed in a bomb blast in Raqqa city.

In the meantime, another Kurdish militia was killed by unknown raiders near the village of Arbid in Northern Raqqa.

Media activists, meantime, reported that the Kurdish forces in the town of Tabaqa in Western Raqqa released Abu Ala al-Sham, a former notorious commander of ISIL terrorists who once was in charge with ISIL's Zakat (religious tax) Council.

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