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Syrian army retakes strategic mountain from Takfiris

Wednesday, 16 December 2015 9:40 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 16 December 2015 9:40 AM ]

Syrian government forces flash the "V” sign for victory and wave the Syrian national flag as they gather on a hilltop in the central province of Homs, which overlooks the town of Mahin, November 14, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Syrian government forces have liberated a strategic mountainous region in the country’s coastal western province of Latakia from foreign-sponsored militants.

On Wednesday, Syrian army troops backed by fighters from allied popular forces established control over the al-Nuba Mountains, which are located to the north of the port city of Latakia, following intense clashes with terrorists, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.

The report added that a number of militant bases were destroyed during the mop-up operations.

On Tuesday, Syrian military helicopters took off from the Kwairis air base in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo after Syrian army forces broke a two-year militant siege on the site last month.

Syrian army soldiers patrol near a building previously used for storing seeds in the countryside of Deir Hafer, a former bastion of Daesh, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, December 2, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Commander of the Airport General Munzer Zammam said the base has resumed its operations, praising Syrian troops for defending Kwairis since it was captured by Daesh terrorists in 2013.

Takfiri Daesh militants seized control of Kwairis in late 2013 after months of encircling the camp. The wide-scale operation to retake the base started last October with Syrian troops making sporadic advances against militants under the air cover provided by Russian fighter jets.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.

The world body says 12.2 million people, including more than 5.6 million children, remain in need of humanitarian assistance. The foreign-sponsored militancy has displaced 7.6 million people.

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