“Thanks God, the central government in Syria has revived again and has gained important victories in different fronts,” Firouzabadi said in Tehran on Sunday.
Stressing that the Syrian government has shown that it enjoys the necessary resistance power to protect its national interests and constitution, he warned, “The ISIL and its allies are collapsing and will be crushed under the wheels of future developments.”
Firouzabadi also praised the central government in Iraq for its successful performance against enemies, and said it could attain important successes in stabilizing Iraq’s sovereignty and safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity and independence.
In relevant remarks in February, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani underlined that the terrorist groups in the region, specially the ISIL, are experiencing the last days of their lives.
“Given the heavy failures that the ISIL and other terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria have sustained, we are sure that these groups are nearing the end of their life,” Soleimani said.
He said that persuading and organizing the Takfiri streams to impair the face of Islam and creating sedition and civil war among Muslims is the last weapon used by the arrogant powers.
Also in October, General Soleimani underlined that the US moves in the region and the terrorist attacks by the ISIL would end in failure.
“I believe that both the US moves and the terrorist acts of the ISIL are doomed to failure because they are not in quest for truth,” General Soleimani told reporters in Tehran.
“Their solution will not lead to victory; we have all witnessed in Syria that the measures they adopted did not produce any fruit (for them),” he added.
General Soleimani underlined that the victories gained by Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran had all been the result of their real quest for truth.
The Syrian troops and resistance forces pushed back Al-Nusra Front and Jeish al-Fath terrorists from al-Zayareh and al-Mashik regions in Sahl al-Qab in the Southern parts of Idlib province. In July, a senior political analyst said the Syrian government will start earning military gains in the coming days.
“Syria will witness new political and military developments in favor of the Damascus government,” Researcher Suleiman Suleiman told FNA late in July.
He further pointed out that the recent military victories of the Syrian army shows that attempts to make the situation in Northern Syria critical have failed.
Suleiman said that the Syrian army is preparing for massive ground and air operations to purge Northern Syria of Takfiri terrorists.
“The intensified attacks by the terrorists at the present juncture shows that no political plan (for resolving the Syrian crisis) can be raised in international circles,” he added.
The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control shrinking swathes of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.
Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country. The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.
The Syrian troops destroyed the terrorists’ strongholds and their vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns.
Also in the past 24 hours, the Syrian warplanes targeted gathering centers of the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in the nearby areas of the Central city of Palmyra, and inflicted heavy losses upon the militants.
The local sources said that the ISIL positions in Hawarin, al-Hadath, the surrounding areas of al-Basira, Wadi al-Masek and near Wasef fuel station in Palmyra were massively targeted by the Syrian fighter jets, which resulted in the killing of a number of terrorists.
Military sources said the Al-Nusra Front has sustained heavy casualties in a Syrian Air Force raid in various parts of the Central province of Hama.
Meantime, the sources said that the hideouts of the Nusra fighters were massive bombed by the Syrian fighter jets in the villages of al-Ankawi, al-Hweiz, al-Zaqoum, Tal Zajram, and Hmaimat in the Northwestern parts of Hama province, inflicting heavy losses in personnel and equipment on the militant group.
Also a US official said that many of the Syrian militants trained by the United States are unaccounted for in the Northern part of the country and some have been found in Turkey.
News about the uncertainty of their whereabouts came a week after the militants were attacked by 50 fighters from the rival al-Nusra Front, a Takfiri militant group affiliated with Al-Qaeda. At least one of the US-trained militants was killed and others were wounded before the attack was repelled by US airstrikes.
The Pentagon said earlier this week that President Obama had authorized airstrikes to defend the militants, even from Syrian government forces.
The US must rely on the 54 militants to report their movements since they fall under the US chain of command, Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said earlier Thursday. He said they have the means to communicate with the US military, but that it didn’t mean they provided regular updates about their positions.Davis added that tracking them was made difficult by current combat conditions in Northern Syria.
Also, the Syrian army targeted positions of al-Nusra Front and other terrorist groups in the Southern Daraa province on Saturday, inflicting heavy losses on the Takfiri militants.
A military source said that the army conducted a special operation against a position of the Takfiri terrorist groups in al-Jhaira square in Bosra al-Sham city, 4o km to the East of Daraa city. The army killed a number of terrorists, most of them belonging to al-Nusra Front, in the military operation. The Syrian troops also killed scores of the Takfiri terrorists, and injured others in Um Walad village in the Eastern countryside of Daraa.
Meanwhile, dozens of terrorists were killed in military operations in the vicinity of the Electricity Company, and to the West of al-Sad “Dam” and to the East of al-Masri Roundabout in Daraa al-Balad neighborhood.
Elsewhere, the Syrian army continued their mop-up operations against the foreign-backed militants in the coastal province of Lattakia. The army, in cooperation with popular defense groups, destroyed mortar emplacements and arms belonging to the terrorists in the Northern countryside of Lattakia.
The army conducted military operations against hideouts and positions of al-Nusra terrorists in the vicinity of Bardawan dam. The source added that 5 terrorists were killed and 8 others were injured in the operations. Two mortar emplacements and a heavy machine-gun belonging to the Takfiri militants were also destroyed.
Meantime, the Syrian air raids bombed positions of the foreign-backed Takfiri militants in the Provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, leaving a group of them dead. The Syrian air raids destroyed terrorists’ hideouts, and killed a large group of them to the North of al-Bahsa, Maaret al-Nouman and Jisr al-Shoghour in the countryside of Idlib.
Meanwhile, the air strikes also destroyed vehicles of terrorists in Rasm al-Abboud and Tal Estable in Aleppo. The Syrian army troops destroyed ISIL’s positions in the province of Homs on Saturday. The army destroyed ISIL terrorists’ hideouts in al-Qaryatain village and its vicinity and in Palmyra and to the East of Jazal gas field in the countryside of Homs.
The French government has voiced serious concern over its citizens joining the ISIL in Syria. The French government announced that over 1,700 of its citizens are in contact with Takfiri networks in Syria and Iraq. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Britain have the largest number of nationals in ISIL’s ranks.
In May, French counterterrorism bodies confirmed that tens of the country’s nationals fighting for the Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq had been killed till then.
“A sum of 104 French nationals who had joined the Takfiri groups (in Syria and Iraq) have been killed in clashes with the Syrian and Iraqi governmental forces,” the French newspaper, Le Figaro, cited the country’s counterterrorism reports as saying.
According to a Paris prosecutor, an estimated 1,132 French fighters are currently in Syria and Iraq with the ISIL, but many of them have grown disillusioned with war and want to return. In excerpts from their letters home, they complain of difficult conditions and of being forced to perform menial tasks instead of taking up arms.
About 120 men have already returned to France, where they may face charges of “terrorism” under French law. Nearly 200 are in transit from Iraq and Syria, and 104 others have been killed. French authorities have incarcerated 76 French citizens who have returned from the front lines in Syria and Iraq.
The western countries, that have long supported the terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, are now imposing travel restrictions on those suspected of preparing to join the ISIL.
Iran has repeatedly warned that those states that have supported the terrorist groups in Syria will have to experience the repercussions of their policies once the well-trained terrorists go back home.
At least 10 terrorists were captured by the Syrian troops and the resistance forces in al-Mahata Square in the Eastern parts of Zabadani. Earlier today, the Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters cut the defense lines of the terrorists in the city of Zabadani in Southern Syria, and took back a strategic square.
According to FNA dispatches, the terrorists of the Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham are now under a full siege in Zabadani and the army has won back al-Kornish Square. The army and resistance forces also took back al-Barada mosque on Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Syrian army and Hezbollah purged terrorists from the Southern parts of Zabadani. The Syrian and resistance forces pushed the terrorists backed from areas between two main squares in Southern Zabadani. Tens of Takfiri terrorists were killed and dozens more were injured in heavy clashes with the Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters.
The strategic town of Zabadani is located 45 kilometers to the Northwest of the city of Damascus in the Southern parts of Al-Qalamoun region. The Syrian army and Hezbollah fighters started fresh operations to win back Zabadani over two weeks ago.
Reports said heavy clashes erupted between the popular forces and terrorists on a road linking Nabl to the nearby Mayer city. Earlier this month, heavy clashes erupted between the Syrian army and popular forces and the al-Nusra Front terrorists in Nabl and al-Zahra regions in Aleppo province as the two towns have been under a tight siege for two years now.
It is for nearly a month now that the Takfiri terrorists have launched a new wave of massive artillery and mortar attacks on Nabl and Al-Zahra towns.
The two strategic towns that are situated in Northern Aleppo province are now under the heavy shelling of the Al-Nusra Front, but the terrorists have failed to open their path into the two towns due to the strong resistance of the people.
The terrorists’ mortar attacks have set fire on large farms between Mayer town and Nabl. They also targeted the residential areas in the Eastern parts of Nabl. In reaction to the aggressions, the popular forces attacked al-Nusra Front’s positions in Mayer town with several mortar rounds.
Syrian Army advances on central al-Zabadani, 30 ISIS terrorists killed in air strikes in al-Qaryatain, Homs
Provinces, SANA – As the army continues advancing in al-Zabadani city in Damascus Countryside, its units in other areas inflict more losses upon the terrorists, leaving many of them dead or injured and destroyed their equipment.
Al-Zabadani, Damascus Countryside
An army unit, in cooperation with the Lebanese Resistance, went on advancing on central al-Zabadani city, establishing control over a number of building blocks in the al-Zahraa area and al-Gharbi neighborhood to the west of the city center, a military source told SANA on Sunday.
A large number of terrorists were killed in the course of the army’s advance, including Mohammad Salem Ghaliyoun, a leader of one of the terrorist groups, and the terrorist Abdo al-Assaf. Other terrorists were captured.
Yesterday, the army and the Resistance controlled a number of building blocks in Za’tout neighborhood and at the corniche roundabout in al-Zabadani city, located to the northwest of Damascus.
Homs
In the meantime, the army’s air force killed at least 30 terrorists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), most of them of Saudi and Tunisian nationalities, in al-Qaryatain city in the countryside of Homs province.
Among the killed terrorists were the two Saudis Abu Hajar and Abu Abdullah.
The army’s strikes left a rocket depot and 7 vehicles equipped with various machinegun destroyed.
Last Wednesday, ISIS terrorists infiltrated into al-Qaryatain, kidnapped 230 civilians, among them women and children and robbed scores of city’s houses.
The United States vehemently condemned ISIS kidnappings in al-Qaryatain city and demanded the immediate and unconditioned release of all the kidnapped civilians.
Meanwhile, the army air force killed a number of ISIS terrorists and destroyed their vehicles to the west of Palmyra city, in the countryside of the central province of Homs.
Hama
In the neighboring Hama province, army units destroyed dens of terrorists in al-Hamidiyeh, al-Ziyara and
Zaizoun in Hama countryside.
Lattakia
Units of the army and the armed forces, in cooperation with the popular defense groups, carried out on Sunday morning intensive operations against positions of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in the northern countryside of the coastal Lattakia province.
Terrorists’ supply routes in al-Rihaniyeh village near the border with Turkey were targeted.
A car loaded with ammunition was destroyed in the village, in addition to destroying a depot containing huge amounts of explosive devices, shells and explosives.
Many of the terrorists were killed and scores were injured in the operations.
Daraa
In the southern province of Daraa, an army unit targeted terrorists’ movements in Simlin town in the northern countryside, killing and injuring a number of them and destroying a vehicle with all weapons and ammunition carried on board it.
Another army unit clashed with an armed terrorist group that tried to infiltrate from the villages of Rakhm and al-Karak al-Sharqi in the eastern countryside of the province towards the village of Skaka, located in the neighboring Sweida province.
All members of the terrorist group were killed during the clashes and their weapons, ammunition and equipment were destroyed.
Meanwhile, the terrorist organizations acknowledged on their social media pages the killing of a number of their members, among them the leader of the so-called Ansar Mohammad Battalion” who was nicknamed Malek Mahmoud Shlash.
Peshmerga quash ISIS attacks in Shingal
FROM THE FRONT: Tense times in war-scarred Shingal
By Kurt Nagl
SHINGAL, Kurdistan Region – A Peshmerga sniper peers out of a sandbag bunker and down the slopes at Shingal city, less than a kilometer away from his machine-gun nest.
The Islamic State massacred most of the city’s Yezidi inhabitants last year, killing, kidnapping and enslaving thousands of local people.
The extremists still control most of the city, but Kurdish fighters, like the Peshmerga sniper, man the frontlines around the city and keep a close eye on ISIS activity below.
Shingal sits on a vital ISIS supply route from Mosul to Raqqa. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Peshmerga engage in daily skirmishes with the militants.
The Peshmerga and PKK fight a common enemy, but the Kurdish fighters are often at odds on Mount Shingal.
Two questions linger in this highly contested battle zone: when will Shingal be liberated, and what will happen after it is?
Rudaw’s Kurt Nagl reports from Shingal.
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