Syrian fighter jets strike militant positions near capital Damascus: Report

Syrian army warplanes have continued launching precision strikes against positions held by foreign-backed militants south of the capital Damascus, causing casualties on their ranks and damage on their hardware and equipment, Syrian state media reports.

Syria's official SANA news agency on Monday, citing military sources, reported that the airstrikes targeted fortified hotbeds, and command and communication centers in Hajar al-Aswad district in the capital’s periphery.

It also said that the anti-terror attack was supported by intensive artillery and rocket fire, adding that the Syrian army’s ground troops advanced from several directions, further tightening noose around the remaining terrorists in Western Ghouta.

The attack came a day after a similar operation in the same district, during which heavy losses were inflicted upon the militants. Terrorists’ ammo caches were also destroyed while the army units were advancing from a number of directions and expanding control over the district’s outskirts.

The Syrian army on April 14 declared the liberation of the town of Douma after the last pockets of militants from the so-called Jaish al-Islam group and their families left their last bastion in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus. The militants and their relatives were fully evacuated to the militant-held city of Jarablus in northern Syria.

PressTV-Syrian jets pound militant positions near Damascus

Syrian Air Force fighter jets bombarded militant positions in Hajar al-Aswad district, near the capital Damascus.

The Syrian army continues its push to secure Damascus and its surroundings after it liberated the entire Eastern Ghouta last week on the back of both military operations and evacuation deals with the militants there.

The country is also preparing to cleanse the southern districts of Damascus, including Yarmouk, of the Takfiri terrorists of Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

Additionally on Monday, the Syrian army artillery unit also conducted intensive shelling against positions and gatherings of Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and outfits affiliated to it in Hama’s southern outskirts.

According to a separate report by SANA, terrorists’ positions in the villages of Aidon, Sutaihat, and Amiryia were pounded, leading to the destruction of at least four positions held by militants. It added that a large number of them were either killed or wounded.

During the past few days, militants in Eastern Qalamoun, northeast of the capital, surrendered and handed over their weapons and ammunition to the government troops. Dozens of buses have so far been transporting militants and their families from a number of localities in the area to Jarablus, a militant-held town in northern Syria.

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