Syria evacuates 5,000 people from embattled town

Syria has evacuated about 5,000 citizens from an industrial town near Damascus where foreign-backed terrorists have been fighting against government troops for over two weeks.

Syrian Minister for Social Affairs Kinda al-Shammat said on Sunday that more than 5,000 people were evacuated from Adra and moved to a safe place, the SANA state news agency reported.

Shammat added that his ministry has established rescue rooms to offer humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army killed at least 19 militants in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, a foreign-sponsored rights group said on Sunday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies heavily on a network of spies working for the foreign-backed opposition, said that the deaths occurred in clashes for control of Deir Ezzor military air base.

The group said there has been fierce fighting for the base for three days between the militants and government troops backed by National Defense Force auxiliaries.

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

A recent 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.

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

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million of others displaced due to the violence.