Syrian army continues major advances in Daraa

The Syrian army continued its advances in Daraa countryside in the Southern parts of the country on Monday. The army units engaged in fierce clashes with militants in Al-Sheikh Maskin in Daraa countryside yesterday. The Syrian air force also pounded several positions of militants in the Western and Northern parts of Al-Sheikh Maskin town. Tens of terrorists have been killed and dozens more injured in the attack as well as in clashes with the Syrian troops in the same area on Monday. Also in the past 24 hours, the Al-Qaeda-linked militants and armed rebels of the rival Free Syrian Army (FSA) continued their fierce clashes in Idlib countryside in Northwestern Syria. The town of Bensh in Idlib countryside was the scene of heavy clashes between the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and FSA on Sunday and Monday, FNA dispatches said. Tens of terrorists from both sides have been killed and dozens more injured during the clashes. The clashes erupted after the ISIL took hostage several FSA militants in Bensh town and used them a shield during its withdrawal from the town. Meantime, a new reports said British militants in Syria are being trained by Al-Qaeda to not only fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government but also carry out attacks on behalf of the extremist group when they are back home. According to an interview conducted by the British Daily Telegraph on Monday one of the defectors from Al-Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) said other recruits from Europe and the US were also being trained to make car bombs before being sent home to form terror cells. "They talked often about terrorist attacks," he said of his former ISIL instructors. Also, the Syrian Army reported a successful chain of operations carried out against extremist militant groups across the country as Damascus awaits an international peace conference aimed at finding a solution to end the ongoing foreign-charged war in Syria. Syrian army forces launched attacks against militants in the provinces of Damascus, Deir Ezzor, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, and Daraa on Sunday, the official the state news agency reported. Elsewhere, foreign-backed militants in Syria launched an attack on the Christian town of Saidnaya near the capital, Damascus. The attack was carried out on Monday when two mortar shells fired by the militants hit a school and St. Georges Monastery in the town, which is located in the countryside of Damascus. There has been no immediate report on possible casualties. Some 1.8 million Christians reside in Syria, making up about 10 percent of the country’s population. The religious minority has been subjected to numerous attacks by extremist groups since the outbreak of violence in the country in March 2011. Meantime, President Bashar al-Assad told the Damascus delegation to the international Geneva II Conference on Syria that the results of the gathering will be futile if terrorism is not stopped and if those states supporting and sponsoring the terrorists are not pressured into halting their backups. President al-Assad provided the delegation with his directives, first among which is rising to level of the representation of the people's pains and hopes by preserving Syria's sovereignty as always, preventing and rejecting any foreign interference no matter its form and context, and accepting no relinquishing of the well-known Syrian national standards, the most important of which being preserving the country and the people and placing their interest above any other consideration. Elsewhere, several armed rebel groups surrendered themselves to the Syrian army in Damascus countryside. Militant groups of Beit Sahm and Bebilar towns in Damascus countryside gave in their heavy weaponry, including artillery and machine guns, to the Syrian army. The surrender of the armed groups takes place within the framework of National Reconciliation Plan in Syria.