Syrian Army Retakes Control of Border Crossings with Turkey, Iraq

The Syrian Army managed to restore peace and security along borders with Iraq and Turkey after taking back control of several border crossings from the terrorist groups.

Iraqi al-Sumaria news website quoted Hakem al-Zamli, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Commission, as saying on Friday that the Syrian army has been able to take control of all border crossings between Syria and Iraq and Turkey, 24 hours after they were occupied by the Syrian rebels, also known as Free Syrian Army.

“Through our contacts with border guards and security services along border points, we found out that the Syrian army was able to take control of 7 border crossings with Iraq as well as border crossings with Turkey,” he stated.

Also FNA dispatches from Damascus said on Saturday that calm has been restored in the main streets of Damascus which were the scene of severe clashes between the Syrian army and terrorist groups in the last few days and people have resumed their everyday life activities once again.

The dispatches said the yesterday clashes in Damascus’s main streets had kept many Syrian people at home, but on Saturday after the street fights abated, people resumed their daily life.

Eye-witnesses in Damascus said that those areas in the capital city which were the scene of heavy clashes between the terrorists and the governmental forces, experienced calm on Saturday and safe trafficking of citizens is now possible.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.

The US daily, Washington Post, reported in May that the Syrian rebels and terrorist groups battling the President Bashar al-Assad’s government have received significantly more and better weapons in recent weeks, a crime paid for by the Persian Gulf Arab states and coordinated by the United States.

The newspaper, quoting opposition activists and US and foreign officials, reported that Obama administration officials emphasized the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Persian Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure.

According to the report, material is being stockpiled in Damascus, in Idlib near the Turkish border and in Zabadani on the Lebanese border.

Opposition activists who four months ago said the rebels were running out of ammunition said in May that the flow of weapons – most bought on the black market in neighboring countries or from elements of the Syrian military in the past – has significantly increased after a decision by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states to provide millions of dollars in funding each month.