News / Syria

Exclusive: Govt. forces seize key region from al-Qaeda-linked militants in northern Syria

Friday, 07 February 2020 5:16 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 08 February 2020 5:50 AM ]

This picture taken on February 7, 2020 and obtained by Press TV shows an armored vehicle formerly used by al-Qaeda-linked militants following the liberation of al-Humayra region in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo by government troops and their allies.

Syrian government forces, backed by allied militants from popular defense groups, have managed to establish full control over a strategic region in the southern countryside of the country’s northern province of Aleppo from the al-Qaeda-linked militants.

Local sources, requesting anonymity, told Press TV that Syrian troops and their allies captured al-Humayra on Friday after “intense battles” with the foreign-sponsored extremists, adding that the army inflicted heavy losses on the Takfiri elements in terms of their personnel and equipment.

Humayra had been under the control of Takfiri terrorists since 2016.

Syrian army units also liberated the villages Zitan and Barnah following fierce clashes with members of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Nusra Front) terrorist group.

Moreover, Syrian government forces and their allies pressed ahead with their counter-terrorism operations against militant positions elsewhere in Aleppo province, and dealt heavy blows to them.

Later in the day, they could retake al-Eis town in southern Aleppo, and targeted militants and their fortifications on the outskirts of Aleppo-Hama international highway.

Militants attack Russian forces from Turkey’s zone in Syria’s Idlib: Moscow

Russia says some of its troops have been killed in militant attacks coming from Turkey’s zone in Syria’s Idlib.

Separately, Syrian army units foiled an attacked by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham terrorist on the road linking newly-liberated village of Zitan to Khalsa village in southwestern Aleppo.

Government soldiers also launched barrages of rockets and artillery rounds at militant positions in al-Rashideen 4 district as well as the towns of Kafr Naya and Khan al-Asal.

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates wrote to the United Nations on January 25, stressing that the operation in Idlib and Aleppo against Takfiri elements "will not stop until the elimination of those terrorists, who threaten safety and security of Syrian civilians."

Syrian govt. forces give chance to militants in northwestern Saraqib city to surrender

The Syrian army has given a chance to militants in the country’s northwestern city of Saraqib to lay down their arm and embark on reconciliation with the Damascus government.

The Syrian army declared the start of an offensive against foreign-sponsored militants in Idlib on August 5 last year.

It came after those positioned in the de-escalation zone failed to honor a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey and continued to target civilian neighborhoods.

Under the Sochi agreement, all militants in the demilitarized zone that surrounds Idlib, and also parts of the provinces of Aleppo and west-central province of Hama, were supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17 2018, with the Takfiri groups having to withdraw two days earlier.

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