Source: Fars News
The Syrian Army heavily pounded the terrorists’ military positions in Northern Hama and Southern Idlib in response to their attacks on government forces from the demilitarized zone.

The Syrian Army’s missile and artillery units pounded the movements of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) and their allies in Tal Osman, Mourek and al-Janabareh in Northern Hama as well as al-Sahrieh, al-Hawija, al-Sharia’a and al-Sarmanieh in Western Hama, inflicting heavy losses on the terrorists.

In Southern Idlib, the Syrian Army troops also engaged in heavy clashes with the terrorists who were intending to penetrate into the government forces’ positions from the surrounding areas of Ma’arat al-Numan, Talmanes and al-Katibeh al-Mahjoureh, killing a large number of them.

The Syrian Army troops, meantime, destroyed several military vehicles and hideouts of the terrorists in Wadi Huweir, Khan Sheikhoun and Talmanes in Southern Idlib.

The Arabic-language service of the Russian Sputnik News Agency reported that six Syrian soldiers were wounded in TOW missile attacks by Turkistani and Ansar al-Tawhid terrorist groups on Northern Hama from Sahl al-Ghab region.

The terrorists also pounded the two towns of al-Rasif and al-Azizieh in Sahal al-Ghab in Northwestern Hama with rockets and artillery canons.

In a relevant development on Sunday, the Syrian Army warded off attacks by terrorists of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hayat in Northern Hama, Southern Idlib and Western Aleppo, destroying their key military positions.

The Syrian Army units engaged in heavy clashes with the terrorists in al-Sharia, al-Tavineh and al-Karim towns in Northern Hama, inflicting major losses on the terrorists and forcing a large number of them to retreat from the battle scene.

The Syrian Army’s artillery and missile units also heavily pounded the terrorists’ gatherings near the town of al-Jamaseh and West of Kafar Naboudeh in Northern Hama, destroying the terrorists’ military positions and killing a large number of them.

This comes as Tahrir al-Sham terrorists launched a large number of rocket attacks on the town of al-Saqilbiyeh West of Hama, killing and injuring a number of civilians.

In Southeastern Idlib, the Syrian Army troops pounded the movements of Tahrir al-Sham and its allied militants from Badama and al-Najieh towns, inflicting heavy losses on them.

In a relevant development last Wednesday, the Syrian army pounded and destroyed a command headquarters of Tahrir al-Sham amid fierce attacks by terrorists on their military positions.

The Damascus army attacked the terrorists’ military positions and movements in al-Habit and around Babilon town, destroying a meeting of militant commanders and killing all those present at the venue.

A military source also confirmed that the Syrian Army troops have destroyed a command center of Tahrir al-Sham together with several military vehicles in Harash Abedin town in Southeastern Idlib, inflicting heavy casualties on the terrorists.

In Northern Hama, the Syrian Army troops engaged in heavy clashes with terrorist groups who had concurrently attacked the Syrian Army’s military positions near the town of Mahradeh and the al-Jadideh town in Northern Hama, inflicting heavy losses on the assailant terrorists after warding off their attack.

Meantime, the Syrian Army troops attacked the terrorists’ military positions in Tal-e Shaviheneh, Kafar Hamreh and Haritan in response to their attacks on the civilian population in al-Zahra, al-Mokambo, al-Shahba al-Jadideh regions in Western Aleppo.

In Western Aleppo, the Syrian Army’s units engaged in fierce clashes with Tahrir al-Sham and National Liberation Front terrorists in the surrounding areas of Jamiat al-Zahra and Rashedeen regions after fending off the militants’ attacks.

Source: 21st Century Wire
In its zealous pursuit to misinform western public opinion about Syria, MSM has canceled dozens of scheduled interviews with a war reporter after he has declared to Belgian RTL radio: “It wasn’t the government of Bashar al-Assad that used Sarin gas or any other gas in Ghouta”.

Pierre Piccinin da Prata, the Belgian war reporter and Editor-in-Chief of The Maghreb and Orient Courier, held hostage with Italian war reporter Domenico Quirico by Syrian ‘rebels’ for five months, eavesdropped a conversation through a closed door- between their jailers about the chemical weapon attack and saying that President al-Assad was not responsible for Ghouta Sarin gas attack.

“Syrian government had no interest in using the gas. Strategically, it was useless; and that could only ruin his image on the international level, with the risk of an American attack,” the reporter told the Syria Times e-newspaper, calling on western media outlets that have been wrong about Syria, about what has really happened since 2011 to recognize their errors and restore truth for their readers and listeners.

Piccinin, who was sold by the commander of the Katiba of the so-called the ‘Free Syria Army’ he was with to the al-Farouk Brigade for a few hundred dollars, posed the following question: what is the point of being a war reporter if it is not to tell the truth?

Following is the full text of the interview:

ST: Why and how were you taken hostage by the Farouk Brigade as you had been a fierce supporter of the so-called ‘Syrian Arab Army’?

Piccinin: I was kidnapped by al-Farouk Islamists in April 2013, in al-Qouseir, in the governorate of Homs.

I was doing an ’embedded’ report at the time, with the ‘rebels’ of the Free Syrian Army (FSA – when they still existed, before disappearing when the rebellion was completely Islamized).

At that time already (April 2013), the ‘non-Islamist’ rebels realized that they had lost the game. Many were returning home or fleeing to Lebanon or Turkey. Some joined the different Islamist groups. Jabhet al-Nusra, especially (al-Qaeda in Syria). But some groups of the FSA continued to occupy the land they still controlled. But they no longer fought the Syrian army: they behaved like bandits; they ransacked the population, under the pretext of taking money for the war effort. And some FSA chiefs started to kidnap people, to enrich themselves personally. That’s what happened to me: the commander of the katiba of the FSA I was with sold me at al-Farouk for a few hundred dollars.

ST: What is the lesson you have learned from the five months in captivity?

Piccinin: As a war reporter and specialist of Syria, and Islamist circles, this experience (although it was very painful nervously and physically) taught me a lot about the evolution of the conflict and also about the realities and internal functioning of these Islamist groups. On their behavior, their convictions, their vision of the world…

I have not been locked up for five months. I was moved very regularly as the conflict evolved. At this time, the fighting followed one another: the front lines moved a lot. In particular, I experienced the siege and the fall of al-Qouseir. The city was taken over by the Syrian government in early June 2013.

So I was able to observe what was happening, constantly moved between Damascus and Aleppo. And I was not attached, nor blinded. I could even talk to the fighters who held me, regularly and also to the people I met. I was very guarded, sometimes locked up, but very often free to communicate, with the Islamists and with the people who gravitated around them. I took my meals with them. We often slept in the same room. I was even present when they prayed or during their military meetings.

I hoped that someone (among the people I meet) would react and help me to free myself. But the Islamists terrorized the population. People were very afraid of Ammar al-Buqai, the al-Farouk chief, who held me. And nobody dared to defend me. One day (it was in Yabroud, near the Lebanese border), a man told me: “They (the Islamists) are a real problem for us. It’s dangerous to contradict them. They are very dangerous. We must pretend to obey them.”

It was a very hard and painful human experience (for my family, my parents in particular, they are old). But, professionally, I dare to say that it was a great enrichment.

On the human side, moral, I also learned a lot. I have seen what level of cruelty, violence, malice and cynicism the human being can reach…

ST: You have stated that it is not the Syrian government that used Sarin gas or any other gas in Ghouta. Have you tried to give your testimony to international investigation committee about the use of chemical weapons in Syria? And Why?

Piccinin : At the end of this period of detention (it was at the end of August 2013), the jihadists who held me spoke only about this: the events of Ghouta.

And, at that moment, I was transferred to a large building (it was in Bab al-Hawa, near the Turkish border). This building served as a common headquarters for al-Farouk and the Free Syrian Army. It was in this place that we caught a conversation that allowed us to know that, most likely, the gases were used in Ghouta by an Islamist group, to provoke a reaction from the United States of America (I say “we”, because I was kidnapped with an Italian journalist, who sometimes accompanied me to Syria, and we were detained together).

Obama had promised that he would attack Syria if the government used gas. And it was a time when the rebels were losing the war. Everywhere! So… I guess if the rebels did that, it was to try to drag the United States into the conflict, hoping to reverse the military situation.

The Syrian government had no interest in using the gas. Strategically, it was useless; and that could only ruin his image on the international level, with the risk of an American attack.

My testimony was published by some media and I developed this question in several conferences.

But, no … Never the UN institutions have asked me to testify.

It must also be said that very few European media have published this testimony…

To tell you the truth, when I came back to Europe, I was contacted by dozens of media outlets, who wanted to interview me, and a lot of Belgian and French media of course. But when I gave the first interviews on Belgian radio in the morning, the day of my come back … I obviously talked about this issue of gas in Ghouta … Just after, the phone immediately began to ring: the media that had programmed my intervention in their broadcasts (radio and television) called me to tell me that the interview was no longer possible … For various absurd pretexts … The interviews were cancelled! Indeed, all Western media had accused the government of Bashar al-Assad of using the gas and had claimed that he was guilty. And a reporter who has been on the ground for five months was coming to testify to the contrary … That did not suit them …

Even my Italian colleague has preferred to keep quiet … I never asked him directly why, because I would not like to embarrass him … But I’m sure it was his editor-in-chief who told him not to talk about that …

Anyway. I should have shut up too. It is certain that my professional career has suffered a lot because of this revelation.

But, honestly, I ask myself the question: what is the point of being a war reporter if it is not to tell the truth?

ST: Have you visited Syria after your release? Would you like to visit Ghouta after its liberation from terrorist groups?

Piccinin: I have been to Syria many times since 2013. For example, I covered the battle of Raqqa, against the Islamic State …

But mainly with the Kurdish rebels. Never again with the Free Syrian Army (it does not exist anymore besides… apart some groups, manipulated by Erdogan’s Turkey, in the north of Aleppo). And not with the Syrian regular army.

Of course, I would very much appreciate being allowed to go back to Syria, with the government’s agreement to see Damascus again … and Aleppo.

I had an ambitious project… To ask President Al-Assad for a series of long interviews, for a book.

ST: As you have been in Syria during the war, why President Bashar al-Assad is standing strong after 8 years of terror war on the country?

Piccinin: Already in July 2011 (including in the Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique), I analyzed the situation in Syria and announced that the Baathist government would remain at the head of the country…

I explained the reasons, complex, for which the president Assad was strong enough to break the ‘rebels’.

Of course, we must mention the complexity of the conflict that President al -Assad had to face. I mean: the complexity of alliances and actors. Syria had to count on faithful and solid allies: Hezbollah party, Iran and, of course, Russia.

But, more than all that, certainly, it is the cohesion of the Syrian army which allowed the victory and the incredible sacrifices of the Syrian soldiers. It is a fact. The Western media have never talked about those boys who gave their lives to defeat the Islamists.

I met them in Syria. They were citizens, young men doing their military service. No monsters, as the media in the West have presented.

More, President Al-Assad had the support of communities, ethnic and faith-based minorities, who have always been protected in Syria and have been able to live in peace in the country (this is not the case in other Arab countries); moreover, President Al-Assad also had a lot of support of the Sunni majority, and particularly in the middle class, who appreciated his policy of economic development and openness.

But, above all, it is obvious that the majority of Syrians have been scared by Islamist fanatics: Syria is a secular country, where the level of education is high, and where there is also a form of social security which ensures the inhabitants of rather good living conditions (in comparison with other countries of the Middle East).

When it became clear that the “revolution” had turned into a fanatic, jihadist, Islamist insurgency, only the regular army could protect the people from the creation of an “Islamic state”. And the vast majority of Syrians supported the government and the army in their efforts to save the country.

ST: Would you like to add anything?

Piccinin: Only one word, for Western media…

It is time for all those who were wrong about Syria, about what has really happened since 2011 … All those who have not understood anything about this conflict … Time to let themselves question… To recognize their errors and restore truth for their readers and listeners.

Unfortunately, the Western press is not as free as it claims … And I doubt that such a questioning will ever take place.

Especially when I read the analyzes produced today: Western journalists have not remembered anything, learned nothing from the mistakes they made.

The consequence is that Western public opinion is very badly informed (or even “misinformed”) about Syria. And on this issue, citizens, especially in Europe, have the impression of “knowing”, but it is a “virtual” knowledge, and they live in a “virtual” reality, far removed from the truth.

***

Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour

Source: SANA
Eight civilians were martyred and eleven others were injured on Saturday in blast of a landmine left behind by Daesh (ISIS) terrorists in the surrounding of Arek village in Tadmur (Palmyra) desert, SANA reporter said.

The victims are people who work in raising livestock who were being transported by a truck with their families in search of pasturage.

Director of Palmyra National Hospital Dr. Walid Awdeh told the reporter that 19 people arrived at the hospital; 8 of them, 5 women and 3 children having been killed in the blast, while the 11 others sustained various injuries including amuptation, broken bones, contusions, and wounds.

The doctor said the injured received emergency treatment and were later transproted to hospitals in Homs, while the bodies of the martyrs were released to their families.

Meanwhile in Hama province, SANA’s reporter said two children were martyred due to blast of a landmine left behind by Daesh terrorists in Najm al-Zohour village, in northeastern Salamyiah area.

The reporter said the children were walking in farmlands in the surroundings of the village when the landmine went off, killing them instantly.

In Hasaka province, a child was martyred and five others were injured in the blast of a landmine left behind by Daesh in al-Serb village northeast of al-Shadadi.

SANA’s reporter said the landmine went off as a number of children were herding sheep, killing one child and injuring five others who were rushed to hospitals for treatment.

By Hamda Mustafa
Source: SyriaTimes

DAMASCUS,(ST)- Syria has renewed its call on the Security Council to act immediately as to put an end to the massacres being committed by the US-led coalition against the Syrian people and to end the illegal presence of US and other foreign troops in the Syrian territories, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in two letters to the UN Chief and President of the Security Council dealing with the US-led coalition’s repeated crimes against the Syrians and the new massacre committed on Tuesday by the coalition against civilians in al-Baghouz town in Deir Ezzor countryside.

More than 70 civilians, most of them women and children, were martyred and injured in airstrikes conducted today by the so-called international coalition led by the United States against al-Baghouz town, according to local sources.

The sources made it clear that the airstrikes targeted a camp containing hundreds of civilians who fled the coalition’s shelling and Daesh terrorism.

The ministry said that the coalition’s repeated attacks against civilians and its use of internationally banned weapons have become a systematic behavior that flagrantly violates the rules of international law, international humanitarian law and human rights agreements.

The new massacre is one of the war crimes and crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the so-called international coalition against the Syrian people, added the ministry, pointing out that such crimes included the coalition’s support for terrorism and its using of terrorists and separatists to achieve its goals and aggressive schemes which target the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Syria urges all the countries member in the coalition to reconsider their participation in its aggressive acts and crimes against the Syrian people and to immediately withdraw from the coalition as to rid themselves of the US blackmail attempts as well as political and economic pressure, the ministry went on to say.

Syria renews its call on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities in preserving international peace and security, to conduct international investigation into the US-led coalition’s crimes in Syria and to put an end to the illegal presence of all foreign troops in Syria, the ministry concluded.

Source: Fars News Agency
The pro-militant White Helmets Organization and Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) terrorists with the help of European experts are planning to transfer poisonous materials to new locations in Southern Idlib in preparation for a false-flag chemical attack, an Arab media outlet reported on Sunday.

Idlib
The Arabic-language service of Russian Sputnik News Agency reported that Tahrir al-Sham terrorists have transferred a chlorine cargo to Southern Idlib from the command center of Turkistani Islamic Party in Jisr al-Shoghour region.

The source noted that the chemical consignment comprised of five cargos of chlorine gas sent by two ambulances belonging to the White Helmets and under the supervision of three foreign experts from the UK and Belgium.

It said that the chlorine capsules are now stored in warehouses with cooling facilities in Khan Sheikhoun region in Southwestern Idlib.

The report comes as Russia had warned last Thursday about terrorists’ efforts to stage false-flag chemical attack on civilians to later accuse the Syrian army of the attack.

Also on Sunday, a number of commanders of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at defected the terrorist group after differences among them increased in Idlib province.

The Arabic-language al-Watan newspaper quoted sources close to the terrorists in Northern Syria as saying that Abu Qaizan al-Misri, a notorious commander of Tahrir al-Sham, has defected the group, adding that he had differences with Tahrir al-Sham ringleader Abu Mohammad Jolani on Turkey after the latter’s support for the Turkish army’s operations in Eastern Euphrates.

Other reports also said that Abu Malik al-Tali, another senior commander of Tahrir al-Sham with close ties to Jolani, who was the terrorist group’s main man to supervise commanders has also defected Tahrir al-Sham.

In another development in the past few days, a number of Tahrir al-Sham commanders and members, including one of the Egyptian leaders of the group named Abu Mus’ab Misri, were killed by unknown assailants in Idlib province.

Also in the past 24 hours, the Syrian army heavily pounded the military positions and movements of the terrorists in Northern Hama and Southern Idlib after warding off their offensive.

The Syrian Army attacks came in response to the Turkistani Islamic Party attacks on their positions in Northern Hama and Southern Idlib.

The Syrian Army heavily pounded the terrorists’ movements and military positions in the villages of al-Sarmanieh, Havash, al-Hoveijeh to North and Northwest of Hama, inflicting heavy losses on them.

In Southern Idlib, the Syrian Army also fended off an attack by Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) on their positions from al-Hobait and al-Kasik.

The terrorists sustained heavy losses in the failed attacks on the Syrian Army military positions.

The Syrian Army units also pounded the terrorists’ military positions in the village of Safouhen in Jabal al-Zawiyeh in Southern Idlib, destroying one of their arms depot and military equipment.

The Syrian Army also destroyed the headquarters of the terrorists in Northern Hama and Southern Idlib as government troops continue to repel attacks by the militants in the same region.

Aleppo

The US Army continued reinforcing its military bases in Syria despite US President Donald Trump’s declared decision for a pullout.

Field sources reported that a massive US military convoy has been sent to a US-controlled military base in Eastern Euphrates in Aleppo province.

The sources noted that the US military convoy crossed into Syria from Iraqi Kurdistan Region via al-Walid passage with the help of the US-backed Kurdish militants.

They said that the US troops have sent a sum of 70 trucks and oil tankers carrying logistical support, ammunition, military equipment and vehicles for a military base near Ain al-Arab in Northeastern Aleppo which is the largest US military base in Northern Syria.

The dispatch of new military convoys by the US comes while President Trump has declared a pullout of the US troops from Syria.

Hasaka

Displaced Syrian people sheltering in al-Hawl camp occupied by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Eastern Hasaka staged massive rallies over the death of tens of children.

Field sources from Hasaka province reported that the rallies were held on Saturday to protest at SDF’s incapability to supply the needs of the displaced community sheltered in the camp.

The camp populatoin are suffering lack of basic needs and commodities, hygiene and cold which have led to the death of at least 36 children so far, the locals said.

Source: SANA
Idleb, Hama – Syrian Arab Army responded with appropriate weapons to the terrorist groups’ breaches of de-escalation zone agreement , inflicting heavy losses upon them in personnel and equipment and destroying their fortified points in the countryside of Hama and Idleb.

SANA reporter said that an army unit on Monday carried out missile strikes against a terrorist group that sneaked from the vicinity of al-Tah village in Idleb southern countryside towards the safe areas and military points.

The army unit clashed with the group members with machinegun weapons and repelled them, SANA reporter added.

The strikes destroyed terrorists’ dens in the area from which they sneaked and killed and wounded many of them.

Terrorist Mukhles al-A’waj was identified among the killed .

The reporter added that the army units conducted artillery strikes against positions of “Turkistani Party” terrorists in the vicinity of Badama and al-Najiya villages in Jisr al-Shughour western countryside in retaliation to their breaches of the de-escalation zone agreement.

The strikes destroyed the terrorists’ dens and positions on the outskirts of the de-escalation zone.

In the northern countryside of Mhadra area, the reporter said, the army foiled terrorist groups’ attempts to infiltrate from the outskirts of al-Janabira village and Tal Othman into military points to attack them, killing and injuring many of its members.

Army units, operating in Tal Bazam, foiled terrorists’ infiltration attempt from direction of al-Lahaia town towards military posts and safe villages in Hama northern countryside, inflicting losses upon the terrorists, the reporter indicated.