Syrian government forces have purged territories in the country’s western-central province of Hama from the scourge of Takfiri terrorists.
The northern villages of Ma’an, Kafraa, Maardas, Tayyibah al-Imam and Khirbat al-Hajama were fully cleared of Jaish al-Fateh terrorists, a Syrian military source said on Wednesday.
He added three tanks and several armored vehicles belonging to the terrorists were destroyed and that 150 militants were killed in the operations in and around Maardas in the past few says.
Over the last few weeks, the Syrian forces have been making vast gains in and around the province, located north of Damascus, which is partially controlled by groups backed by foreign backed Jaish al-Fateh and the so-called Free Syrian Army militants.
Elsewhere in the country, the Syrian soldiers killed 15 terrorists in the embattled city of Aleppo, and destroyed two vehicles and an ammunitions depot.
Aleppo has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and the Takfiri terrorists in the east. The Syrian forces have been engaged in a major operation to liberate the militant-held areas of the city as well as the province with the same name.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Back in 2014, the UN said it would no more update its official death toll for Syria because it could not verify the figures that it received from various sources.