Source: Press TV
Russian military police have taken control of a base near Syria’s northern city of Raqqah only a few days after US servicemen left the site, which lies in a strategic area at a crossroads linking the strategic city with the central and northern regions of the war-ravaged country.

Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that Russian forces entered the base, a former school building in the village of Tal Samin and located 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of the provincial capital Raqqah, on Thursday.

“By the end of the day, the unit will be stationed and, in a manner of speaking, we will carry out patrols … to protect local civilians starting from today,” Russian military officer Arman Mambetov said after the Russian flag was hoisted above the base.

The development came as Syrian authorities had earlier stated that foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants were using important roads in Tal Samin to transport ammunition and personnel when the area was under US control.

In late October, Washington reversed an earlier decision to pull out all of its troops from northeastern Syria, announcing the deployment of about 500 soldiers to the oil fields controlled by Kurdish forces in the Arab country.

The US claimed that the move was aimed at protecting the fields and facilities from possible attacks by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group. That claim came although US President Donald Trump had earlier suggested that Washington sought economic interests in controlling the oilfields.

Pentagon chief Mark Esper then threatened that the US forces deployed to the oil fields would use “military force” against any party that might seek to challenge control of the sites, even if it were Syrian government forces or their Russian allies.

Syria, which has not authorized American military presence in its territory, has said the US is “plundering” the country’s oil.

A senior advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that Damascus plans to file a lawsuit against Washington for plundering the Arab country’s oil resources.

Bouthaina Shaaban said the United States has no right to Syria’s oil, and the Arab country is going to sue it over a plan to steal the oil resources.

Shaaban warned the US of popular opposition and operations against the presence of American troops at Syrian oil fields, and insisted on the exit of all foreign occupiers, whether they are terrorists, Turks or Americans.

Source: SANA

Hasaka -Turkish regime army launched on Wednesday an aggression on Ras al-Ayn city in the north-western countryside of Hasaka and on Tal Abyad in the northern countryside of Raqqa, SANA reporter said.

The reporter added that the Turkish regime forces launched an air and artillery intensive shelling on the Silos and infrastructure in Ras al-Ayn city.

The aggression targeted sites for the separatist QSD militias in the villages of Mishrafa, Khirbet al-Banat, al-Asadyah, Ber Nouh, Alouk, Nastel, Azizyah, Azizyah school synchronizing with an artillery shelling that targeted Ayn Issa in Tal Abyad of Raqqa northern countryside.

Turkish regime forces concentrated on shelling the infrastructure, targeting electrical line of Allouk water station in Ras al-Ayn countryside which feeds Hasaka city and al-Mansoura dam in the surroundings of al-Malkiyah city that provides water to nearly 2 million people.

The Reporter added that the Turkish aggression expanded to target Tal Jahan, Ismailiah, Salihiyah and Dirbasyah in Hasaka countryside.

Later,SANA reporter said three children and a woman martyred in a shell of Turkish aggression on a house in Bashiryah neighborhood in Qamishli.

Meanwhile, local sources said two civilians in Tal Diab were martyred while 4 children were injured near Dirbasyiah to the west of Hasaka in the Turkish aggression.

QSD militias set fires to some oil wells in Hasaka northern countryside and set fires to tires in some parts of Ras al-Ayn neighborhoods, the reporter affirmed.

Source: SyriaNews
Trump Forces along with ISIS (ISIL, Daesh, al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant) terrorist groups carried out a coordinated attack against an SAA outpost in Al Bukamal area, southeast of Deir Ezzor.

The ‘ISIS Airforce’ aka ‘Illegal International Coalition to Support ISIS’ bombed an artillery post of the Syrian Arab Army in the Sukkariyeh area, west of Al bukamal.

US-led coalition attack was at 11:30 pm yesterday Saturday evening, and caused the injuring of two SAA soldiers and the destroying of the artillery cannon.

Simultaneously, herds of ISIS terrorists carried out an attack against Syrian Arab Army posts positioned in the area from the Baghouz axis, where the Trump Forces Murdered 5 children and 3 women end of last month, east of the Euphrates adjacent to the borders with Iraq.

The SAA units operating in the area have repelled US-sponsored ISIS attacks and killed and injured most of the ISIS attackers.

This US-led illegal coalition attack against a Syrian Arab Army unit is usually accustomed with attacks by ISIS terrorists or to secure their retreating terrorists from battlefronts with the SAA troops.

A previous similar attack by the US-led Coalition on SAA units in Al-Bukamal area was merely 8 months ago, in similar tactics and purposes by the illegal Coalition.

When the US-led illegal Coalition cannot attack SAA or any of its allies posts inside Syria and protecting the Syria people, the Coalition murders the Syrian people directly. A long list of such crimes against humanity committed in the past few months in the province of Deir Ezzor alone of such nature.

This comes in addition to previous war crimes committed by the US-led coalition in Raqqa city which was ‘completely obliterated, and not ‘liberated from ISIS’ as they claimed from ISIS.

The Syrian Arab Army and its allies were on the verge of cleaning the entire province of Deir Ezzor during their swift advance in the region in late 2017, before the US and its cronies in the illegal coalition jumped to the rescue of ISIS and drew a line to prevent the SAA from chasing ISIS, with the Russian approval, one of the fatal Russian miscalculations in the Syrian Crisis.

Source: Fars News
Bodies of 13 other civilians killed in the US-led coalition’s airstrikes on Raqqa city were found on Thursday.

Media activists in Raqqa reported that corpses of 4 civilians who had been killed in the US attacks were discovered in the rubbles of Atiq Grand Mosque.

They added that bodies of 4 other people were also found in the ruins of a building near the Women Union’s headquarters, three others were discovered in a district near the public park and 2 more corpses were unearthed from the rubbles of al-Badou district.

Sources in Raqqa had reported on Thursday that the civil workers in the city found corpses of 5 civilians from the rubbles of a building in al-Badou district.

They added that the building was destroyed in the US-led airstrikes in Raqqa city, saying that the search operations continue to discover more bodies.

Given the huge volume of destructions in the US attacks in Raqqa, operations to pull out the corpses of victims still continue.

Source: RT
Syria wants the US and its allies to pay for the destruction of Syrian infrastructure and to bear legal responsibility for “illegitimately” bombing civilian targets, Damascus has told the UN, demanding that the American-led coalition strikes stop.

The Syrian “Government insists that these attacks must come to an end, and that the members of this illegitimate coalition must bear the political and legal responsibility for the destruction of infrastructure in the Syrian Arab Republic, including responsibility for compensation,” the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations said in letters addressed to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council.

Stating that the ongoing US-led anti-terrorist airstrikes “continue to claim the lives of hundreds of innocent Syrian civilians,” Damascus claimed that the bombings had led to a “near-total destruction” of homes and vital infrastructure, including the “utter destruction” of oil and gas facilities.

The attacks, along with US and EU-imposed economic restrictions on Syria “are impeding the maintenance of those economic facilities and jeopardizing the prospects for development and reconstruction” in the country, the letters, written last week, said.

To support their claims, Syria’correspondence referred to two recent cases where the coalition’s jets destroyed oil and gas facilities. Damascus also said the May 27 bombardment of Hasu Albu Awf village in the Hasakah governorate, “completely” destroyed many homes and killed at least eight civilians, “most of them children.”

On Friday, the US-led coalition announced the demolition of a number of oil and gas facilities in various parts of Syria which allegedly belonged to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group.

Targeting the terrorists’ illegal oil trade and jihadist infrastructure has been a cornerstone of both American and Russian strategies in Syria. But while Moscow coordinates its strikes with the Syrian government, the Washington-led operation has been harshly criticized for its indiscriminate bombing practices and doing so without communicating with Syrian government forces.

Damascus’ letters to the UN once again underlined that the American air campaign is being conducted in violation of international law, as it lacks any form of consent or authorization from the Syrian government.

Raqqa, known as the stronghold of IS, has been the main focus of the US operation in Syria, where Washington is guiding and supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

While the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve this month confirmed a total of 603 civilian deaths in the US-led air campaign in Syria and Iraq, Airwars, a UK-based group that monitors airstrikes and civilian casualties, claimed this week that it tracked “more than 700 likely civilian deaths” in Raqqa alone – even before the battle for the city began in June.

Source: Fars News
The Syrian Army soldiers continued to hit ISIL’s positions Northwest of the newly-liberated city of Palmyra (Tadmur) and managed to capture an energy-rich region after killing and wounding tens of terrorists.

The army troops and resistance forces engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL and drove the terrorists out of Jazal oilfield, inflicting tens of casualties on the militants.

Field sources said pro-government forces are about to reinvigorate security of Palmyra by widening security in areas around the city.

In relevant developments in the province on Sunday, the army troops engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL terrorists in the Southeastern outskirts of Palmyra and seized back the city’s military airport and an area stretching over 2km North of the airport, killing and wounding a number of militants.

Local sources said that the army men then clashed with ISIL terrorists in a region near the wheat silos and continued to advance against the terrorists towards the Northeastern outskirts of Palmyra.

The sources added that simultaneous with ground forces’ advances, the Syrian Air Force and the army’s artillery and missile units targeted ISIL’s positions and concentration centers near the wheat silos and near the two oilfields of al-Sha’er and Jazal Northwest of Palmyra.

Tens of ISIL terrorists were killed and several command posts, positions and military vehicles were destroyed in the attacks.

Damascus and Kremlin both declared on Thursday that the Syrian Army, backed by the Russian Air Force, took back the key city of Palmyra from the ISIL terrorist group.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated that Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu reported to the commander-in-chief, President Vladimir Putin, that the historic city of Palmyra in Homs province was liberated.

Hours after Moscow declared the liberation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Homs province, the General Command of the Syrian Army also confirmed the report.

The Syrian army forces broke the ISIL defense lines in Palmyra on Wednesday night and entered the ancient city after liberating the Palmyra Triangle and Castle, cutting off the ISIL supply routes towards the historic city.

According to reports, the ISIL terrorists evacuated most parts of the city on Thursday after planting bombs in its houses and roads.

ISIL kicked off a large-scale operation on December 8 with thousands of forces in Homs province to take control of Palmyra that was liberated by the Syrian Army in March 2016.

The ISIL took control over some energy fields and strategic heights and approached Palmyra.

The terrorist group finally entered the city of Palmyra on December 10, but the Russian and Syrian forces could repel their attacks, killing hundreds of them.

4,000 fighters of the ISIL carried out again a large-scale offensive against government positions in Palmyra from several flanks and finally managed to capture the city on

December 11, while only 800 army soldiers were defending the city and there was no possibility for aerial coverage by the Russian and Syrian warplanes due to bad weather.

The Russia’s center for Syrian reconciliation noted ISIL had moved considerable forces from their stronghold of Raqqa, while more forces and equipment were relocated from Deir Ezzur.

The center cited intelligence data that ISIL had moved up to 5,000 fighters to the cities of Raqqa and Deir Ezzur from the Iraqi stronghold of Mosul.

The Syrian Army, backed by the Syrian and Russian Aerospace Forces, liberated Palmyra in March, 2016, nearly a year after it was captured by ISIL in May 2015.

During the invasion, terrorists had cruelly destroyed a major portion of the historic sites in the city. UNESCO Chief Irina Bokova had warned that ISIL militants in both Iraq and Syria were responsible for “the most brutal and systematic” destruction of the ancient heritage since World War II.