Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Wins Back 20 Villages, Hilltops in Lattakia Province

Over 20 villages and hilltops were recaptured by the Syrian army in fierce clashes with the terrorists.

Scores of terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battle with the army and popular forces on Saturday.

The Syrian army also continued its advances in other key provinces across Syria, inflicting heavy losses and casualties on the terrorist groups.

Lattakia

Battlefield sources announced on Saturday that the Syrian army and the popular forces have managed to take control of nearly two dozen strategic villages and hilltops in Lattakia province.

“The Syrian army launched heavy attacks on the terrorists’ military positions in Jabal al-Akrad (Kurds Mountain) and al-Turkman regions and seized back over 20 villages and hilltops,” a military source said on Saturday.

He reiterated that the army units are now in full control of Shahbak Nakhashba, Tal al-Molk, Tal Rasha, Ein al-Quntera, Arz al-Wati, Zahr Abu Asad and Mazala.

“The Syrian army has advanced from Jabal al-Qaleh towards al-Karmil and took control of Sheikh Hassan, Ein al-Bayza, Ein al-Hoor and Lower Hakar regions towards the Jabal (Mount) al-Rai as well as heights 540 and 650.

Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian army troops alongside popular forces continued to push back militants in Northeastern Lattakia and won back the province’s highway to the bordering province of Idlib after hours of battles.

Syrian government forces, who seized back several villages and hilltops bordering the Idlib province in Northeastern territories of Lattakia, took full control over the Idlib-Lattakia highway after several years since the war on terrorism started.

Reports said earlier on Saturday that the army soldiers alongside the National Defense Forces continued to hit terrorists’ strongholds in the mountainous regions of Lattakia and captured several key hills and villages.

“The Syrian government forces’ anti-terrorism operation in Northern Lattakia inflicted major losses on the militants and forced them to pull their forces back form the villages of Ein al-Qantara and the hills of Rasha, al-Oweizarat, Zohra, Abu Saeed and Ruweisat al-Kataf,” the sources said.

“The terrorist groups retreated from the battlefield after they suffered a heavy death toll and their military hardware sustained major damage,” they added.

Aleppo

The Syrian army continued to march on militant-held positions in Aleppo and seized control over more lands in the city.

Four more housing complexes in Aleppo city’s al-Amariyeh district came under the Syrian army’s control after killing several terrorists and destroying their military hardware.

Meantime, the Syrian air force pounded the terrorists’ military positions in the town of Haraytan in the Northern countryside of Aleppo city and Khan Touman warehouses Southwest of the city.

Several armored and machinegun-equipped military vehicles of the terrorists were destroyed the Syrian army offensives.

Meantime, the Russian warplanes launched airstrikes around the city and destroyed the military bases and arms depots of the terrorists in Aleppo countryside.

Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian army and the resistance forces preempted terrorists’ imminent operations to take control of a logistic route in Northern Aleppo, and forced them to withdraw from their military positions on a road linking Castillo to al-Fallah Farms.

A battlefield source told the Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper that the Syrian army in a preemptive military operation on Friday managed to push back the terrorists of Aleppo Operations Room near Castello and al-Mallah Farms in Northern Aleppo.

“The terrorists intended to take control of Aleppo supply route, but they faced the army’s preemptive move and failed to even get close to this path,” the source said.

Quneitra

Fatah al-Sham (the al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) kicked off a new wave of heavy clashes with the Syrian army in Quneitra province on Saturday.

Several terrorist groups, including Ahrar al-Sham, Beit-ul-Moqaddas and the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are assisting the Fatah al-Sham terrorist group in its military operations against the government forces.

The Fatah al-Sham group said that its military operations are aimed at occupying the Northern part of Quneitra province.

Raqqa

Media and information dissemination minister of the ISIL has been killed in an airstrike on the terrorist group’s military positions in the city of Raqqa, media reports said.

Abu Mohammad Forqan, a notorious ISIL commander who recently became the terrorist group’s information minister, was killed in Raqqa city and only few days after ISIL Spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was killed.

An informed local source told the Arabic-language media that Forqan was the founder of ISIL’s security organization in Raqqa city.

The source noted that Ali Mohsen al-Shavakh, nom de guerre Abu Luqman, will probably replace Forqan.

Hama

Syrian fighter jets traced and targeted two main depots of terrorists’ arms and missiles in Northern Hama.

Jeish al-Fatah’s depots of arms and ammunition in Souran and Morek were demolished in the Syrian air raid.

The Syrian warplanes also bombed Jeish al-Fatah’s bases, tanks and armored vehicles in Ma’an, Taybat al-Imam, Atshan, Tal Bazam, Skeik, Tal al-Naseriyeh and surrounding of Khirbet al-Hajameh.

Idlib

Dozens of Jeish al-Fatah militants, including several non-Syrian commanders, were killed in the Syrian army attacks in Southern Idlib.

The Syrian Army, in two battles, killed a number of Jeish al-Fatah members in Ta’oum and Khan Sheikhoun near border with Hama province.

Several non-Syrian commanders of Jeish al-Fatah were killed in the army attacks on their bases in Ta’oum and Khan Sheikhoun.

Deir Ezzur

Syrian Army soldiers, for the second day in a row, struck heavily ISIL’s centers in different parts of Deir Ezzur city and its countryside, destroying a large number of the terrorists’ heavy weapons.

Syrian warplanes carried out a number of combat flights over ISIL’s positions in al-Jafreh, Hatleh, Jabal al-Thardeh, al-Baqaliyeh and Tal Brouk, meantime, the Syrian army’s artillery units shelled ISIL’s based in al-Sina’ah, al-Hamidiyeh, al-Huweiqa, al-Roshdiyeh, and al-Orfi.

A large number of ISIL’s mortar Launching-pads were damaged in the attacks.

Homs

Several armored vehicles of ISIL were damaged in the Syrian Army troops’ attacks on the terrorist group’s positions in energy-rich regions in Eastern Homs.

The Syrian army soldiers and their popular allies stormed ISIL’s positions in Arak oilfield, destroying the group’s armored vehicles in large scale.

In the meantime, the Syrian fighter jets bombed ISIL’s gatherings in al-Sha’er oilfield, Jazal, East of the village of Arak, Western side of third station and near the village of Huweisis in Eastern side of Palmyra.

Damascus

Syrian military forces struck the terrorist groups’ concentration centers and gatherings in Eastern and Western Ghouta, inflicting dozens of casualties on the militants.

The Syrian army soldiers clashed with a group of terrorists in Eastern Ghouta and did not allow them to advance in the region.

Also, the Syrian army men stormed the strongholds of Fatah al-Sham (the newly-formed al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously known as the al-Nusra Front) in Khan al-Sheih in Western Damascus, claiming the lives of several militants and destroying their machinegun-equipped vehicles.