Vast Popular Protest Reported in Northeastern Syria against Foreign, Turkish Occupiers

A large number of residents of Hasaka protested against the Turkish army's military presence, reiterating support for the Syrian Army.

News ID: 442833

Date: 05 January 2019 - 15:31

RNA - The residents of Hasaka city accompanied with tribesmen and tribal leaders gathered in President Square of Hasaka city and hoisted Syria's flag, calling for the pullout of foreign troops from Syria.

They also condemned the Turkish government's threats to attack Syria again.

The protesters chanted slogans against Turkey's direct support for the terrorist groups, and lauded the Syrian army's gains against the terrorist groups.

Raqqa

Head of the Joint Council of Raqqa affiliated to Syrian Democratic Forces announced that SDF will continue its negotiations with the Syrian government on SDF-controlled areas irrespective of the absence or presence of the US troops in Syria.

"The SDF does not pay heed to the US presence or absence in Syria," the Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper quoted Leila Mostafa as saying, referring to the ongoing talks between SDF and the Damascus government on SDF-controlled al-Jazira region in Eastern and Northeastern Syria.

She noted that the representatives of the Syrian government and the SDF have held talks in the town of Ain Issa in Northern Raqqa, and said, "The two sides will hold similar meetings in the near future."

Idlib

Clashes intensified between terrorists of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay'at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) and the National Liberation Front (NFL) as well as other militants in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces, taking interchangeably control of a large number of regions.

Field sources in Northern Syria reported that Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group in clashes with NLF-affiliated Nouralddeen al-Zinki took control of the strategic town of Dar al-Izzah in Western Aleppo and Kafar Basin and Fadreh villages in Northwestern Aleppo.

They said that the infighting among terrorists spread to Idlib and Hama provinces, reiterating that they NFL militants took control of Masaran, Babila and al-Jaradeh villages to the North of Idlib, Ma'arat al-Numan and Ma'ar Shourin to the South of Idlib and Tarmala to the Southwest.

Meantime, Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay'at also took control of al-Faqi, Karsa'a, Arinbeh, Sharnaz, Meydan Qazal, Shoulin, Shir Maqar, Qara Jarn, al-Deyrouneh, al-Jasem Farm and Jab Soleyman to the South of Idlib and Western Hama.

Meantime, the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news website reported that at least 100 terrorists were killed in clashes between Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay'at and Nouralddeen al-Zinki terrorist groups.

Deir Ezzur

The Iraqi fighter jets struck the military positions of the ISIL terrorist group in Eastern Deir Ezzur, destroying their weapons cache and killing several senior terrorist commanders, the Iraqi sources said.

"At least seven ISIL commanders were killed in Iraqi air raids on the terrorists' military positions in Eastern Deir Ezzur," the Arabic-language al-Maloumeh news website quoted a Hashd al-Sha'abi (popular forces) commander as saying on Thursday.

Hashd al-Sha'abi commander Qatari al-Abidi said that a number of ISIL terrorists were also wounded in the Iraqi airstrikes on their positions in al-Souseh region in Eastern Deir Ezzur along Iraq-Syria border.

Al-Abidi, meantime, said that the ISIL's arms cache was also destroyed in Eastern Deir Ezzur.

Aleppo

Turkey-backed militants reportedly withdrew from the surrounding areas of the town of Manbij in Northeastern Aleppo as about 400 Kurdish forces left the region in accordance with an agreement they had reached with the Syrian Army.

The Syrian Defense Ministry in a statement announced that a convoy of Kurdish troops comprising over 30 vehicles retreated from Manbij in line with an agreement on restoring security to the Northern parts of Syria since the beginning of 2019.

A total of 400 Kurdish troops moved from Manbij towards Eastern Banks of the Euphrates via the village of Qara Qouzaq located 25 kilometers to the Northeast of Manbij.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced that the Turkish army is no longer in a state of alert in the surrounding areas of Manbij town in Northeastern Aleppo as it does not intend to conduct fresh military operation in the area.

The SOHR reiterated that the Ankara-backed militants have retreated from the regions known as Euphrates Shield operation zones in Northern and Northeastern Aleppo to their military garrisons and positions in the outskirts of Manbij town.

The Arabic-language daily Al-Watan quoted opposition sources as saying that all Ankara-backed militants who were stationed in the surrounding areas of Manbij have retreated to Lawa Esknadaroun al-Salib.

Hama

The Syrian Army pounded the military positions of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay'at in Northern Hama after they resumed attacks on the government forces' military positions from the demilitarized zone.

According to Fars News Agancy, the Syrian Army's artillery units in Northern Hama targeted a terrorist group that was trying to penetrate into the government forces' positions from the town of Ma'arkabeh, destroying an armored vehicle as well as killing and wounding several terrorists.

Also in Northwestern Mahradeh in Northern Hama, the army's missile and artillery units heavily pounded the military positions and movements of the terrorist groups in the villages of Tal al-Sakhar, al-Janabereh and al-Jarieh in Northern Hama before they could attack the Syrian army's military positions, destroying several military positions of the terrorists as well as killing and injuring a number of terrorists.

The Syrian government troops, meantime, targeted the military positions of Tahrir al-Sham terrorists in the town of al-Bouzeh as they were preparing to attack the Syrian Army positions in Northern Hama. The Syrian Army inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists in Northern Hama and destroyed their military equipment and hardware.

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