Syrian army soldiers, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have carried out large-scale mop-up operations against Takfiri Daesh militants in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, dealing heavy blows to the extremists.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Syrian forces thwarted a string of militant attacks on Tal Barouk district in the province on Friday following intense clashes with Daesh militants.
More than 150 Daesh Takfiris were killed and large number of others injured in the process.
Elsewhere in al-Gharbiyeh village in the southwestern province of Dara’a, army units destroyed an artillery post and a pickup truck equipped with a heavy machine gun.
Syrian government forces also destroyed two positions of Jabhat Fath al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant) – formerly known as al-Nusra Front – in Dara'a city's Dara'a al-Balad district.
Syrian army troopers, together with popular defense fighters, also destroyed a bulldozer on the road linking al-Hamidiya village to Jebbata al-Khashab area in the southwestern province of Quneitra on Thursday evening.
The militants were reportedly using the bulldozer to make encampments and slow the advances of the government forces.
A number of terrorists were killed and injured and their munitions were destroyed during the fierce fighting.
Earlier on Thursday, the Syrian forces managed to thwart a series of militant attacks against the western and southern parts of the strategic northwestern city of Aleppo.
Militant attack kills 5 Syrians in Aleppo
Meanwhile, at least five civilians, including three children, lost their lives in a militant rocket attack against a residential neighborhood in Aleppo.
A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said five others were also injured when several rockets fired by militants struck al-Hamdania neighborhood in the western part of the city on Friday afternoon, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported.
The projectiles also caused damage to several houses and public properties.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. United Nations 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 death toll for Syria because it could not verify the figures that it received from various sources.