Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Shoots Down Terrorists’ Drone in Aleppo

The Syrian air defense system downed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Takfir terrorists over Aleppo sky.
The terrorists’ spy drone was flying over the air force academy to identify the Syrian army’s positions.

Also in the past 24 hours, the Al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front abducted the leader of a militant group in North Syria.

A statement issued in the name of the group, “Division 30”, accused the al-Nusra Front of abducting Nadim al-Hassan and a number of his companions in a rural area North of Aleppo. It urged al-Nusra to release them.

Two opposition sources said most of the 54 fighters who have so far completed a US-led train and equip programmed in neighboring Turkey were from Division 30.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group, said the men were abducted while returning from a meeting in Azaz, North of Aleppo, to coordinate efforts with other militant groups. The opposition source said they were abducted on Tuesday night.

Meantime, Syria strongly condemned the Turkish support for Takfiri militants fighting in the Arab country, and questioned Turkey’s air raids allegedly targeting militants.

In two identical letters sent to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the UN Security Council Gerard van Bohemen, Damascus slammed Turkey for conspiring against Syria by “supporting terrorists that came from more than 100 countries through Turkey to join” militant groups such as the ISIL and al-Nusra Front.

The Syrian government further dismissed Ankara’s attempts “to depict itself as the victim and that it is defending itself while everyone is aware of what this regime has done in terms of providing all forms of support to terrorist organizations, violating relevant Security Council resolutions,” the letter added.

The ministry stated that ISIL steals goods and archaeological artifacts from Syria and sells them in Turkey with the full knowledge of the Turkish government in exchange for weapons, ammunition, and logistic support for its Takfiri elements operating in Syria.

Turkey trains and arms Al-Qaeda-linked militants fighting in Syria, the letter said, holding Ankara “responsible for the shedding of Syrian blood and the humanitarian suffering of millions of Syrians inside and outside Syria” due to its backing for terrorism.

“Syria had often warned that terrorism knows no homeland or religion or borders, and warned its supporters that it will eventually backfire on them,” the letter read.

Referring to Turkey’s claims that it is hitting ISIL position in Syria, the ministry questioned Ankara’s intentions and said they might be “pretexts to attack Kurds in Syria and Iraq” or pursue “ulterior internal goals”.

Turkey launched the strikes in the wake of a terrorist bomb attack in the border town of Suruc, which claimed the lives of 32 people. Ankara blamed the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group for the blast.

Elsewhere, the Syrian army killed a notorious Takfiri terrorist commander in heavy clashes in the province of Lattakia.

Abu Abdul Rahman al-Madani, the Al-Nusra Front commander in Lattakia, was killed in Jabal al-Torkman region in the Lattakia province, Western Syria.

The army units, meantime, thwarted an attempt by the Takfiri terrorists to penetrate into a Syrian army base in Jabal al-Rahmalia region in Northern Lattakia.

The Syrian forces have managed to purge Takfiri terrorists from vast areas in the city of Hasaka over the past few days, FNA dispatches said.

The Syrian army and the Kurdish popular forces seized back over 95 percent of Hasaka city.

The Syrian forces took back al-Layla, al-Dhohour, al-Shababi residential area, al-Filat, football stadium, Eastern al-Nahsva, Western al-Nahsva, Eastern Ghuweiranesh and Western Ghuweiranesh regions from ISIL’s control.

The army and Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces managed to mop up Al-Layla district in the Northeastern part of Hasaka from the terrorist groups.

Following the tough resistance shown by the army and popular forces in the past few days, Al-Layla district was taken back and the ISIL terrorists retreated.