Clashes renewed in Syria’s Daraa and Homos

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported, on Tuesday, that three fighters were killed in a bomb blast in Daraa Province, while pointed out that clashes between the Syrian government forces and jihadists are continuing in southeastern countryside of the capital, Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that an improvised explosive device exploded near a vehicle belonging to the Jihadists, on Smad – Samj Road in the village of Smad, in the eastern countryside of Daraa, killing three jihadists.

Meanwhile in Damascus, the SOHR pointed out that the clashes are still ongoing between Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militants and the Syrian government forces, backed by foreign militia, in the southwestern countryside of Damascus, where HTS is trying to retake areas from the regime forces in Kafr Hur.

Moreover, Syrian government forces continue advancing into the area, while the fierce clashes are accompanied by continuous rocket shelling on the combat axes in the areas of Bayt Tima and Kafr Hur.

In the same context, The Turkish army and Kurdish militia exchanged fire Monday in the northern Syrian province of Idlib where Ankara’s troops are stationed as observers, the first report of such an incident in the area, state media said.

Kurdish militia fighters fired five mortars at an observation post in Idlib staffed by Turkish troops , the Anadolu news agency said. No casualties were reported and the mortars did not hit their target, it added. In response, the Turkish army fired towards Kurdish militia-held positions around the town of Afrin, it added.

Turkish troops are deployed in Idlib as part of of an agreement with Iran and Russia to implement four so-called de-escalation zones in flashpoint areas around Syria. Up until the deployment of Turkish troops in mid-October, Idlib had largely been controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a group led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syriaaffiliate.

Clashes continue between the regime forces and the militiamen loyal to them of Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities, against the “Islamic State” organization, in areas in the northern and northeastern parts of al-Bokamal in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which used to be the last city for the organization in Syria and its largest remaining stronghold in Deir Ezzor Province and the Syrian territory, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that these continuous clashes come in an attempt by the “Islamic State “organization to re-advance in the area taking advantage of the bad weather there.

In a related context the Syrian Observatory documented more casualties in the ranks of both parties of the clashes; in the air and missile bombardments, explosions and clashes in the period from Thursday the 16th of November 2017 until Sunday the 22nd of the same month, where it rose to 43, the number of casualties of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them including 28 of the Lebanese, Iranian and Iraqi nationalities, and one of them a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

However, it raised to 64 the number of casualties of the “Islamic State” organization, including 11 suicide bombers who blew themselves up in booby trapped vehicles and explosive belts, all of them were killed in the mentioned period of time.

In Damascus, regime forces continued their rocket shelling on areas in the Eastern Ghouta, where they targeted this evening with 4 missiles believed to be ground-to-ground places at the outskirts of Ein Tarma, while a shell launched by the regime forces and landed on area in al-Nashabiyah town, also about 10 shells fell on areas at the outskirts of Hosh al-Dawahra town in al-Marj area.

However, the clashes decreased in the vicinity of the Vehicles Department and other areas within it between the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham against the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, while it turned out that the 6 casualties who were killed in a massacre carried out by warplanes which bombarded areas in the town of Mdira near the Vehicles Department in the Eastern Ghouta; are a man and his wife and 4 of their children, the bombing has also caused the injury of 17 other persons at least.