Photos- Syrian Army in high spirits as east Damascus offensive yields more gains

After reaching out to a Republican Guard source, Al-Masdar News received a new batch of photos showing the 105th and 106th Brigades in action against jihadist insurgents in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ayn Tarma which after over a month of heavy clashes has been largely razed to the ground.

Inching their way northwards through Ayn Tarma, the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) elite Republican Guards took control of the Al-Khir market and Sunbul fuel station on Monday after indefinitely breaking through Failaq Al-Rahman’s (FSA) and Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham’s (HTS/Al-Qaeda) first line of defense. During this specific advance, the FSA and HTS withdrew from over ten trenches, falling back to a second more lightly defended interior line.

After securing Ayn Tarma’s southern sector, housing mainly three-storey buildings constructed in classic Arabic architecture, the SAA is now moving in to Ayn Tarma’s residential areas where skyscrapers provide excellent cover for sniper nests and anti-tank missile launching positions.

Despite facing tougher urban terrain, the Republican Guards seemed cheerful on virtually all pictures provided to Al-Masdar News. These two brigades have singlehandedly wiped out 400 insurgents over the past 25 days alone, thus neutralizing most of the seasoned rebel fighters and breaking down their long-standing defensive line:

On the other hand, a FSA rocket-launcher caused a SAA T-72 battle tank to crash into a river in Ayn Tarma on Sunday, prompting its crew to swiftly abandon the vehicle.