Syria in Past 24 Hours:

Army Continues Mass Mobilization of Troops in North

Rasa - The Syrian army continued their mass mobilization in Northern Syria after reports said Turkish troops are deploying to the border for a major anti-Kurdish assault.

News ID: 441562

Date: 16 November 2018 - 16:41

RNA - The Syrian army continued their mass mobilization in Northern Syria after reports said Turkish troops are deploying to the border for a major anti-Kurdish assault.

Raqqa

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Army has sent a large number of reinforcement troops to the town of Ma’adan, which is located just South of Tabaqa city in Western Raqqa, Massdar news reported.

The source said that these reinforcements came from the Homs and Damascus countryside; they had previously served at these fronts for several years before the rebels finally surrendered these areas.

While the Syrian Army has no plans to capture the territories controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), they do want to make sure the Turkish military doesn’t expand into Northern Syria.

Furthermore, the Tabaqa region is an important source of electricity to the people in the Euphrates River Valley; its loss to the Turkish-backed forces could be a major problem for the government.

The Syrian government is currently working with the Syrian Democratic Council to jointly run the Tabaqa Dam and rebuild much of the towns nearby.

Also on Wednesday, Turkish troops and Ankara-backed militants continued to deploy in contact lines with the Kurdish militia on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River in Northern Syria as the US-led coalition boosts support for the Kurds.

The Turkish army has gathered tens of Free Army militants in the small town of Akshakli near the town of Shanli Urfa in Southern Turkey for an imminent operation against the Kurds on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

In the meantime, a local source said that the Turkish army has dispatched almost 1,200 allied militants to the region.

Meanwhile, sources affiliated to the Kurdish militias reported that a high-ranking delegation from the US-led collation, including former US Ambassador to Bahrain and adviser for the US State Department in Northern Syria William Robak, General Robinson, and several senior commanders held a meeting with Manbij Military Council forces, including Mohammad Mustafa Abu Adel, the council's chief commander and Shervan Darvish, the spokesman for the council.

The sources further said that the coalition forces underlined their full support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the council.

According to field reports tensions stand at the highest between the Turkish troops and its allied militants and the Kurds on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

Sweida

The Syrian Army forces continued attacking ISIL's strongholds in the Eastern desert of Sweida, seizing control over more vital points in Toloul al-Safa on Wednesday.

The army soldiers stormed again the ISIL's positions in Toloul al-Safa in the Eastern desert of Sweida from several flanks, taking control over several points in the Northwestern part of the rugged terrain after prevailing over ISIL's first defense line.

In the meantime, the army's artillery and missile units pounded ISIL's movements and positions heavily in Toloul al-Safa, killing and wounding a number of terrorists and destroying their equipment.

Field sources, meanwhile, pointed to the army's advances in the rugged terrain region, and said that the army units have approached the highest area in Toloul al-Safa, adding that if the army captures the area the entire Toloul al-Safa region will be under its control.

The sources further said that the army soldiers repelled several ISIL's counter-attacks to remove the army siege, adding that the terrorist group suffered a number of casualties in the battle.

Idlib

Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) terrorist group on Wednesday forwarded a large volume of military equipment to contact lines with the Syrian Army in the demilitarized zone in Idlib province in yet another flagrant violation of the Sochi Agreement.

Tahrir al-Sham sent more gunmen, arms and ammunition to regions near contact lines with Syrian Army in Eastern Idlib to reinvigorate its positions in the demilitarized zone.

In the meantime, militant-affiliated sources reported that Tahrir al-Sham has turned down a Turkish army offer to join the assault on the Kurdish militias on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River, declaring that it is preparing to enter a battle against the Syrian Army in Idlib.

Meanwhile, sources in Northern Hama said that the Syrian Army units, deployed in Tal al-Hamamiat, fended off an invasion of Kata'eb al-Izzah terrorists in Tal al-Sakhar after pounding their movements with heavy artillery fire.

Other units of the Syrian army's artillery and missile units targeted a groups of terrorists in Ma'arkabah and Lahaya in Northern Hama, and preempted their attack after inflicted a large number of casualties on them.

Deir Ezzur

Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi popular forces have reinforced the entire Deir Ezzur border region after the ISIL terrorists recaptured several areas inside the province.

According to the official media wing of Hashd Al-Sha’abi, the Iraqi forces have reinforced the border region in a bid to protect the area from ISIL’s attempted expansion, massdar news reported.

The Hashd Al-Sha’abi troops have already begun heavily targeting ISIL's positions in Deir Ezzur, as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are attempting to regroup and retake the areas they lost.

Also on Wednesday, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) sent more gunmen and military hardware to Eastern Deir Ezzur on Wednesday amid intensified tensions between the SDF and civilians in the region.

According to Fars News Agancy, the SDF dispatched a convoy of military vehicles, equipment and fresh militias from the town of al-Tabaqa in Western Raqqa to Eastern Deir Ezzur.

In the meantime, media activists reported that the SDF's move came after the militias' brutal measure in the villages and towns of al-Sowar, Tayeb al-Fal, al-Sajar and Abu al-Nital enraged civilians.

Local sources reported that several SDF gunmen were killed or wounded after unknown raiders opened fire at them in the village of Daranj in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

Other sources in Hasaka province reported that the SDF started arresting civilians and beating them after unidentified raiders targeted a base of the SDF near a US-run base in the town of al-Shadadi in Southern Hasaka.

Aleppo

A number of Ankara-backed militants were killed in what has been reported to be a quarrel over the share of each militant from looted assets in occupied Afrin region in Northwestern Aleppo.

Local sources said on Wednesday terrorists of Firqah al-Hamzah opened fire at each other in al-Mahmoudiyah neighborhood in the town of Afrin over their share of the assets looted from the people.

They added that a number of militants were killed and wounded in the clashes.

In the meantime, The Kurdish-language Hawar news reported continued looting of people's properties by the Ankara-backed militants in Afrin, and said that the militants are still plundering agricultural products in Afrin and sell them in Turkey.

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