Syria army seizes warehouse full of weapons

The Syrian army says it has seized a warehouse full of weapons and ammunition used by foreign-backed militants near the capital Damascus.

On Tuesday, the army raided the depot in Darayya farms in the Damascus countryside and captured a large quantity of mortar launchers, machineguns, rifles, night vision goggles, and explosive devices, the official SANA news agency reported.

The Syrian army has recently conducted successful clean-up operations across the country, inflicting heavy losses on the militants.

The Syrian army has seized large amounts of weapons from militants across the country, since the fighting began in 2011.

Damascus says the militants receive the arms from some Western as well as regional countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

The Syrian army is battling out the insurgents to push them out of the cities and other areas. It has managed to liberate key regions in recent months.

In an interview with Argentina’s Clarin newspaper in May 2013, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said militants from 29 different countries were fighting against the government in different parts of the country.

A British defense study showed that about 100,000 militants, fragmented into 1,000 groups, are fighting in Syria against the government and people.

The extracts of the study by defense consultancy IHS Jane’s were published on September 16, 2013.

IHS Jane’s estimates that some 10,000 militants are fighting for groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the rest fight for different militant groups.

The analysis also said that a large number of extremists from foreign countries are active in Syria.