Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Preparing to Retake Al-Qalamoun in South

The military sources in Syria announced that the army is planning to take control of the entire Al-Qalamoun region from terrorists’ control.
The Syrian troops are preparing to liberate the town of Al-Zabadani in Al-Qalamoun region, informed military sources said.

A military source told FNA that heavy clashes are underway between the army and militants in Jebel al-Gharbi region which is near Al-Zabadani town.

The latest FNA dispatches from Al-Qalamoun region indicate that the foreign-backed terrorists have started withdrawing from the nearby areas of Al-Zabadani after sustaining heavy losses from Syrian army.

Also in the past 24 hours, the Syrian army retook control of a number of villages in Hasaka province.

The army recaptured the villages of al-Watwatiyeh, Jammo, Jammo Farm, and the Eastern part of Bab al-Kheir village South of Hasaka city from the foreign-backed militants.

Last Sunday, the army regained control over a number of areas in Hasaka Eastern countryside after killing dozens of the ISIL terrorists and forcing other to flee these areas.

The army set up checkpoints in several areas to protect the locals from the ISIL terrorists.

Elsewhere, the Syrian army intensified its offensive on Takfiri groups in nearby areas of Idlib province, and managed to kill a large number of the militants.

The army troops stormed the hideouts of the militants in the areas of Jabal al-Akrad, Abu al-Duhour, Tal Salmo, al-Hamidiyeh and In Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib, killing and injuring a large number of them.

Also, the militants suffered major losses in the Province of Lattakia, as the army made gains in its fight against the rebels in the areas of Salma, Marj Khoukha, Majdal Kikha and Kansba.

Meantime, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that Kurdish fighters who battle ISIL terrorists around the Syrian key town of Kobani have so far liberated over 50 nearby villages.

It noted that the Peshmerga forces have been faced with little resistance from the Takfiri militants, recently pushed out of the strategic town across from the Turkish border.

The observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman called the Kurds’ advance during the past week “speedy” with ISIL militants withdrawing “as soon as” the Peshmerga forces enter a village.

The forces, also called the People’s Protection Units (YPG), recaptured Kobani on January 26 after nearly five months of fighting and since then battles to capture some 350 nearby villages have begun.

Since they reclaimed the town, 10 ISIL terrorists have been killed in battles around Kobani, according to the UK-based observatory.

Meantime, the Amnesty International urged wealthy governments to resettle hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who are sheltering in neighboring countries and still waiting to be offered a new home.

The human rights watchdog released a report on the response given by governments to the refugee crisis in Syria, saying hundreds of thousands are still waiting to be relocated abroad.

The report said an estimated 380,000 Syrians remain at a high risk of being attacked or abused in sheltering camps outside Syria, noting that wealthy governments must show a more urgent response to the issue by increasing the number of the people they resettle within their borders.

According to the report, around 80,000 people have been accepted as refugees abroad while the remaining 300,000 people still face legal challenges to complete their applications.

Around four million people have escaped the armed conflict in Syria and spilled across the borders into neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Amnesty spokeswoman, Sara Hashash, said the refugees who need resettlement are mainly those who require advanced medical treatment or children who have lost their guardians.

Hashash said the organization has yet to compile data on which country could accept the refugees, adding that Germany and Canada have shown better responses in this regard.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.