Syria army keeps militants at bay near capital

Syrian government forces continue to counter repeated offensives by Takfiri militants to retake a strategic area near a highway north of the capital, Damascus, Press TV reports.

The Syrian army nearly three months ago launched an operation against the terrorists operating near the international highway that connects Damascus to the coastal and central parts of Syria.

The highway was completely cut off in late September, when the militants launched an offensive to encircle Damascus and connect militant-controlled areas to the Lebanese borders.

A Syrian army soldier told Press TV that the terrorists failed to take control of even a single block in a strategic residential area, known as Assad Suburb, near the highway.

“After months of fighting, they were not able to take a single block in the suburb and after stopping their offensive, we launched a counterattack and now we are closing in on their strongholds in Duma and Harasta cities,” he said.

Another Syrian army officer said they managed to seize a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives from the militants and over 200 terrorists were killed during the operation.

Syrian forces continue to fight terrorists on several fronts across the country.

On Monday, Syrian forces recaptured Sheikh Ahmad Village in the northern province of Aleppo from Takfiri Daesh militants.

Syrian troops also attacked the positions of al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front, in the city of Busra al-Sham near Dara’a, destroying their hideouts. They also targeted militant positions in the town of Atman, also near Dara’a, and killed a number of them.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy for four and a half years. More than 250,000 have lost their lives and millions displaced as a result of the crisis in the Arab country. The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million Syrians.

US-led air raids ‘criminal’

Syria has denounced as “criminal aggression” the bombing of the Arab country’s infrastructure by the so-called anti-Daesh coalition led by the US.

In letters to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council on Monday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry highlighted the destructive effects of US-led airstrikes targeting the country’s infrastructural facilities such as power plants, oil fields and factories.

US bombardments of industrial areas are aimed at destroying Syria’s economy, the letters said.

The US and some of its allies have been carrying out air raids against what they say are Daesh positions in Iraq since August 2014. Since last September, some members of the US-led coalition have also been pounding purported Daesh positions inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

However, the air raids have so far failed to dislodge the terror groups that control swathes of land in both neighboring states.

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