Clashes between the Syrian Army and terrorists are ongoing in Damascus and Homs provinces. Turkish tanks have entered al-Ra’i town in northern Aleppo.
Homs province (Photo: FAN / Dmitry Zhavoronkov)
Damascus province
Jaysh al-Islam terrorists attacked positions of the Syrian Army in the area of Al-Rayhan farms in East Ghouta. The attack on the village of Hawsh Nasri was repelled by Syrian troops, who also captured the village of Tal Sawwan in rural Damascus. At the moment, there is no data on casualties.
Meanwhile, terrorists continue to leave the town of Muadamiya in accordance with an agreement, concluded with the Syrian government forces. Reportedly, more than 300 people were evacuated from the town in the past day.
As it was recently reported, the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has launched a large-scale offensive in the eastern region of Qalamoun Mountains, targeting the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) defenses from three different axes. The IS captured several sites of the FSA and kill over 20 of their combatants on Saturday morning. Clashes are still ongoing between the two sides, as the IS continues its onslaught.
Aleppo province
It is expected that on Sunday, an agreement will be concluded between Russia and the US, according to which a ceasefire for 48 hours will be announced in Aleppo. The ceasefire would allow access for the UN humanitarian mission. At the moment, an agreement has not yet been reached.
Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters attacked Jaish al-Fatah’s positions in the area of a military school of Aleppo. Terrorists suffered heavy losses.
Turkish tanks have entered al-Ra’i town in northern Aleppo, as the Euphrates Shield’s forces begins push to meet with Jarablus pocket.
Turkish tanks enter al-Ra’i town in northern Aleppo (Photo: twitter.com / sayed_ridha)
The IS said that its terrorists have repelled an attack of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Tell Farah, Wahshieh and Tell Sawsyan in north Aleppo countryside.
Homs province
Terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group attempted to seize orchards in the southern part of the city of Palmyra. Reportedly, terrorists could not break a defense of the Syrian Arab army backed by the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was also reported that Emir Yuzif Sultan, one of the IS commanders, was killed during the Russian airstrike.
The Syrian Army repelled the IS assault towards abandoned battalion base north of the Tayfor airbase in eastern Homs.
At the same time, IS terrorists have recaptured several checkpoints between the settlement of Huwaysis and the al-Shaer gas field. The clashes are still ongoing.
Syrian soldiers in Homs province (Photo: FAN / Dmitry Zhavoronkov)
Deir Ezzor province
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, two woman and three children were killed by airstrikes in the town of Al-Tayyaneh in the east of the province. Reportedly, this area is under control of terrorists. It has not been established, which side is an owner of the aircraft.
Daraa province
According to unnamed sources of the FAN news agency, the 5th Armored Division of the Syrian Army began an offensive against rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the area of the Ibta military base, located to the south-east of the town of Al-Shaykh Maskin. Reportedly, government troops drove militants from the base and established full control over it.
Hama province
Terrorists beheaded two soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army, taking them captive in Hama province. Reportedly, the Jund al-Aqsa and the Jaish al-Izzah, supported by the US, are responsible for the execution.
According to military sources, the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out a series of airstrikes on positions of Jund al-Aqsa terrorists in the areas of the villages Taybat al-Imam, Suran, Halfaya and Morek in Hama province. There is still no information about results of the air operation.
Jund al-Aqsa terrorists used modified drones with explosives against the government forces in the area of the village of Maardis in the north of Hama.
Hama province (Photo: FAN / Dmitry Zhavoronkov)
“Terrorists beheaded two soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army, taking them captive in Hama province.”
And the Syrian Arab Army, when it has terrorists cornered, lets them get away with their lives in exchange for “evacuating the area”!
Way to go, guys! You’ll really win the war like this!!
If a Western nation, a real nation, faced invasion like this then the results would be completely the opposite; no “manpower shortages”, everyone would sign up to defend their country, their homes, millions of people putting their lives on the line. Not fleeing constantly and immediately after the enemy applies a little pressure. Not putting them under a siege and busing them to safety before they run out of bullets! Not letting a much smaller enemy with no air force dictate the territorial divide of your country.
Tens of thousands of syrian soldiers/combatants have died… but it is a civil war not an invasion.
While there may be a few Syrians among the rebels, in just the recent past, an estimated 360,000 have entered the fray as rebels from other countries. Eighty % from Saudi, Turkey and Tunisia .
One journalist explained it this way. If they are ‘insurgents’, they are fighters who genuinely oppose the current government. If they are ‘rebels’, they are US surrogates.
And that’s an exceptionally low number considering that it’s an invasion, look at the world wars, millions fallen in the same amount of time because of the intensity, rather than the hesitance of the Syrians, retreating every five minutes, coyly allowing the enemy to occupy their territory, massacre its people etc.
400,000 Syrians have died since the terrorist invasion of Syria. The Army suffered huge losses. If the Russians hadn’t responded to the Syrians call for help, Syria and part of Iraq would be an oil rich terrorist caliphate. Contemplate that.
A disingenuous number; how many were civilians? Why aren’t many, many times more fighting for the army than currently are, how are there manpower shortages? Why are Syrian men refusing to fight for their country?
They have a very inefficient military structure, unfortunately. Look at the Syrians before the war. The region as a whole doesn’t produce quality fighting forces, but the Syrians were on the lower end. For example, in the 1973 war, while the IDF had a 3.5 to 1 ratio of casualties inflicted per soldier against the Jordanians, 4 to 1 against Egyptians, it was over 6 to 1 against Syrians. Only the Iraqis did worse (like 12 to 1). This kind of inefficiency makes even recruiting efforts difficult, especially under the current chaotic conditions.
And then there is the second problem: before the war, the Syrians, like pretty much every Arab regime, tried to structure the military and officer promotions to prevent a coup by said military. Separate arms and services were discouraged from cooperating too closely, key positions were given to people from loyal factions, rather than the most qualified officers, and so on. Despite these precautions, the CIA and MI6 (actually DI6 nowadys) was able to convince a decent amount of officers to defect to create groups like the FSA. What is left of the army is organised around proven loyal supporters and their followers. Nobody is eager to just hand out weapons and uniforms to anybody who shows up wanting to join, lest they just be another Western intelligence proxy there to get free weapons and join the terrorists. They only have so much equipment left. The Russians provide some, but they are not willing or able to hand out an endless supply. If the Syrians are careless, and let fake recruits run away with it, the Russians will likely be less willing to offer more. Also, the shortage of equipment means they don’t have a useful role for an endless supply of recruits. Even with a few hundred Russian and Chinese instructors, they only have so many personnel available to conduct training, so much equipment to train with, and so on. Finally, they still need people to carry on at civilian jobs and keep the areas of the country they control functioning. Assad wants to keep as much of a feeling of normalcy and stability in as much of the country as possible, and keep them from going bankrupt while they fight.
When you combine their very real problems and restrictions with the lack of efficiency, it’s not surprising things are as they are. Luckily, the terrorists aren’t really better organised. Just heavily funded and supplied. Comparing the mobilisation efficiency of modern Israel, or Europe in the World Wars is only so relevant. Those countries all prepared for years in advance to conduct those kind of national mobilisations and had systems in place to activate when required. They all had a least mildly efficient military staffs who weren’t worried that this or that brigade would steal the stockpiled equipment and stage a revolution. Syria didn’t. Aside from Israel and Iran, no nations in the region do. Maybe Lebanon, but only sort of, informally, and Hezbollah had a lot of help from Iran to become what they are. For example, watch how comical the Saudi’s efforts will be when the Houthi start making real inroads into their territory.
Enjoyable little read there Joe, props.
Not ‘disingenuous’ but a sad fact according to the latest UN report. Besides civilian butchery, ‘collateral damage (US bombing) 105000 members of pro government forces have died since 2012 along with 15,000 children.
It’s an invasion. Almost all the ‘rebels’ are foreign fighters.
It started as a CIA backed uprising, then it was a civil war and now it is a proxy war around religion.
Exactly. The CIA exploited Syria’s tragic history and ethnic divisions. They created a civil war (an invasions of a kind). When that didn’t work, they brought in the terrorists army.
No it is not a civil war.
The terrorists had never respect the rules of war which rejected killing the prisoners of war. They acted like the group who beheaded two American last two years. These terrorists are supported by the United States government and this is a shame for the government to do so. It shows disrespected to families who lost their sons in Syria.
These so called rebels are supported by the US, Israel, UK, and the rest of the Coalition. They are motivated by a belief in Wahhabi Sunni Islam , or money as in mercenaries . This form of Islam , is promoted by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, and is disrespectful to all . They want you and all to believe as they do , or your done (executed). This religion is very simplistic , and anyone who is foolish enough to accept it , is easily programmed into any type of brutality , all in the name of God. You are right it is shameful for the US etc., to create and “employ” them, but it is done so the blame can be thrown at them. Truth will prevail , fear not .
You definitely right the Saudi called Assad as dictator who reign for many years while they forgot about themselves and their king is a wealthy man in world with the public money where in the world the king should be rich like that he related to some kind of corruption.
Russia will need to begin bombing runs against the invading Turkish military soon. All because they stopped the peoples Revolution against the Islamist-dictator of Turkey. Had the coup succeeded, then Turkey would not be inside of Syria today.