Terrorist commander killed in Syrian Army ground offensive

The militant commander of a foreign-sponsored Takfiri group has been killed during a clean-up operation carried out by Syrian government forces in Syria’s strategic northwestern province of Aleppo.

Commander of the Nour al-Din al- Zinki terror outfit, Nasif Ismail, lost his life in the southern part of the province, located 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, on Monday as Syrian troopers, backed by Russian air force, mounted a large-scale ground offensive to wrest control of the militant-held territory.

A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told Syria’s official SANA news agency that Syrian soldiers had destroyed the bases of the Jaish al-Fatah (The Army of Conquest) militant coalition and other foreign-backed Takfiri groups during operations in al-Tamanah town of Syria’s northwestern Idlib Province.

Syrian fighter jets also struck a pick-up truck, which had a heavy machinegun mounted on and belonged to terrorists, as it was heading to al-Habit village in the same province.

Separately, Syrian warplanes carried out a number of aerial attacks against the positions of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front terrorist group in the village of Um Myal, which lies in the al-Salamiyah district of Syria’s western-central province of Hama, killing an unspecified number of terrorists.

Syrian army forces also stormed several militant hideouts in Khatamlou village of the same province, killing scores of Nursa Front militants and members of other terror networks in the process.

Additionally, Syrian jets bombarded the strongholds of the Takfiri Daesh militant group in the village of Qasir al-Ward and several other areas across Aleppo Province.

Moreover, Syrian soldiers launched rigorous operations against militant bases in the Saida town of the southwestern province of Dara’a, killing and injuring a host of terrorists. Several vehicles belonging to the extremist group as well as their munitions were also destroyed.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.