Source: 21st Century Wire
The situation for the jihadist rebels in northwestern Hama and southwestern Idlib is progressively getting worse as they have lost a total of five towns on Monday.

Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army seized two more towns this afternoon following an intense battle with the jihadist rebels.

According to a military source near the front-lines, the Syrian Arab Army took control of Al-Tobeh and Sheikh Idris after launching a swift attack from the Kafr Naboudeh area.

As a result of this advance, the Syrian Arab Army has now secured the western axis of Kafr Naboudeh, leaving only the northern and eastern flanks left in danger.

The Syrian Arab Army will likely shift their attention to the key hilltop of Tal Sakher and the nearby town of Al-Hobeit as they work to fully seucure the northwestern axis of the Hama Governorate.

If they are successful, the Syrian Arab Army will only have a few sites left to capture in Hama before the entire governorate is under their control.

Earlier today, the Syrian Arab Army captured three towns from the jihadist rebels along the Idlib-Hama axis; these included Tal Hawash, Hawash, and Al-Jabriyah.

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
Once again, the US appears to be baiting the Syrian Army and Russia into a shooting war, and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Back on September 17 2016, the US-led Coalition led airstrikes near the Deir ez-Zor Airport in eastern Syria lasting one hour and killing between 90 and 106 Syrian Army soldiers and wounded 110 more. The US claimed they were aiming at an ISIS target, but in reality that US strike allowed ISIS to move in from the surrounding hills and retake a key position which they held for another year.

UPDATE 6PM ET: More confusion surrounds this recent event, as a US official told CNN that it was Israel who are behind the attack on Syrian forces near Deir ez-Zor.

In total there have been at least 12 such attacks by the US against Syria, and if confirmed, this latest incident will no doubt escalate tensions between the two countries, and is sure to raise further concerns from Syria’s strategic partners about the continued illegal US occupation in Syria.

Al-Masdar News reports….

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:00 P.M.) – A Syrian military source in Damascus informed Al-Masdar News this afternoon that the death toll from the alleged U.S. attack on the army’s positions in Albukamal’s countryside has risen significantly.

According to the source, at least 40 soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army and Iraqi paramilitary forces were killed as a result of these airstrikes.

The source said the majority of the dead were Syrian Arab Army soldiers that were deployed to the Al-Harri front to protect against any potential Islamic State (ISIS) assault.

Furthermore, the source said the Syrian military believes the attack was carried out by the U.S. Coalition due to the location from where the aircraft came from in eastern Syria.

In response to these allegations, the Pentagon has denied carrying out this deadly attack in eastern Syria.

This is the second time in three weeks that the Syrian Army has accused the U.S. Coalition of bombing their troops in southeast Syria.

The Syrian Army has not responded to the attack and will not likely attack the US-backed forces in the region, as this would only escalate the situation and lead to violent confrontation.

Furthermore, it is not necessarily clear that the U.S. Coalition carried out the attack, a some pro-government activists have accused the Israeli Air Force of carrying out the airstrikes.

Albukamal is a long distance from the Israeli border, but it would be a viable target for their military, given the large presence of Iranian-backed forces near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Israel has also never attacked the Syrian military this far from their border, so if they were behind this – this would be the first time they have ever bombed the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

Though, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did vow to attack the Iranian-backed forces anywhere inside Syria during his weekly cabinet meeting.

This is a threat that he and his Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have made on several occasions in the past.

Source: RT
Syrian forces have liberated all militant-held settlements in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, the military command said in a televised statement. A major Syrian motorway has been unblocked for the first time in seven years.

“After a set of carefully planned battles and operations carried out by our armed forces in cooperation with loyal and allied troops, the control over all the towns and settlements in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta has been restored,” a Syrian Army statement said, as cited by Sputnik news agency.

The army has also lifted the blockade of a main highway connecting the Syrian capital to the rest of the country, the statement said, as cited by SANA state news agency. “The victory in Eastern Ghouta ensured opening of the main routes between Damascus and central, northern and coastal regions, and all the way to the Iraqi border,” it said.

Syrian forces managed to defeat the militant groups holding Ghouta after their headquarters, ammunition depots, fortifications and weapons factories were destroyed, the army said. It added the military units are continuing the offensive on the outskirts of the town of Douma, driving militants out of the area.

The milestone victory would ensure the “restoration of security and stability in Damascus,” and would bring relief to a civilian population that has suffered from “terrorist crimes and sponsors of terrorist organizations over the past several years.”

The Eastern Ghouta area has been under siege since 2012. In February this year, Syrian troops began their offensive to liberate the last militant-held stronghold located close to Damascus.

On February 27, Russia brokered the humanitarian ceasefire in eastern Ghouta to allow civilians to escape the area through a humanitarian corridor, several of which have since been set up. The cessation of hostilities was renewed several times, allowing civilians, as well as militants and their families, to safely exit the besieged area.

The Russian military also helped the Syrian Army ensure security in and around humanitarian corridors, through which both civilians and militants were exiting. The troops thwarted dozens of suicide attacks targeting buses that ferried civilians out of the area, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday. Forty-eight explosive belts were also seized during anti-terrorism raids.

The efforts enabled at least 150,000 people to leave eastern Ghouta for safety, the majority of them being Syrian civilians suffering under the militant rule. As the area was being liberated, some 40,000 people returned to their homes. Those who have returned are receiving aid packages delivered by UN agencies and the Russian Reconciliation Center.

Syrian civilians who managed to flee eastern Ghouta through humanitarian corridors relayed the stories of atrocities committed by the terrorists. They told RT’s video agency Ruptly that the militants kept all the food and water for themselves, used people as human shields and employed threats and violence in order to prevent them from leaving the war-torn area.
Life in eastern Ghouta will soon be returning back to normal in a way that is similar to what is now happening in Aleppo, which was liberated from militants with Russia’s help in late 2016, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, reacting to the news.
“We have a place, which was one of the last terrorist strongholds, cleared from militants… We have obvious progress, which is admitted by the UN and humanitarian organizations; we have the process of withdrawal of civilians [from terrorist-held areas] and the liberation of towns,” Zakharova told Russia’s Channel 5.

Those are the signs that “bit by bit, eastern Ghouta will follow the footsteps of Aleppo, where from 100,000 to 200,000 people have already returned,” she said. “It still less than what used to be the city’s population [before the war], but it shows that life is really starting to come back to normal.”

Source: Sputnik

Several sources have told RIA Novosti about the alleged transfer of Daesh commanders by “US military aviation” from a Syrian town in an unknown direction.

US helicopters have transferred Daesh commanders from the town of al-Mayadin before the launch of the Syrian army’s operation, eyewitnesses told RIA Novosti.

“American military aviation first made a maneuver in the area […] near a Mayadin farm. Then [ the aviation] launched an airstrike, we tried to hide and saw several US helicopters. There were foreign Daesh commanders on the ground, who were waiting for them next to their headquarters… The helicopters took them outside of Mayadin,” a local shepherd, Muhammad Awad Hussein, told RIA Novosti.

He further said that he allegedly saw “US aviation… first a sound from it, then a massive strike that was followed by the US helicopters’ flight and transportation of Daesh leaders after which the airstrikes ceased.”

According to the 79-year-old man he had served in the Syrian army and can distinguish American aviation.

Other locals told RIA Novosti that they have allegedly seen how cars transported two foreign Daesh commanders with their families from Mayadin to the terrorist group’s headquarters […], after which helicopters arrived and took them in an unknown direction.

Mayadin Operation

Syrian army’s operation to liberate Mayadin, the once largest Daesh stronghold in the Deir Ezzor province that had been used by terrorists as a hub to accumulate weapons and manpower to launch attacks on the cities of Palmyra and Deir Ezzor, began in early October and ended about two weeks later.

During the course of the campaign to free the town, the Russian aviation carried out airstrikes on Daesh targets to support the government forces’ operation on the ground.

After the Mayadin victory, Brigadier General of the Syrian Arab Army Hasan Suheil showed reporters the weapons the government forces had captured after the liberation of the town. It turned out that the largest Daesh storehouse contained the latest examples of NATO weapons from the United States, Belgium and Britain.

Source: Syria News
Just before noon today August 14, 2017, the last chapter in the Arsal and its rural area horrific days started to end after 3 years of daily crimes and terrorist attacks.

Hundreds of radical terrorists from the so called ‘Saraya Ahlul Cham’ with their families were moved from Arsal Rural to their dumpsters in Rihaiba and Asal Al-Ward in Syria.

34 buses escorted by security patrols from Lebanese General Security Forces and the Lebanese Red Cross heading towards the borders with Syria where the Syrian authorities will take over from there.

The terrorists delayed to execute their eviction agreement by demanding at the last minute to take their medium weapons with them, which was met with a strict refusal by the Syrian authorities and like their colleagues in other terrorist groups that took the same path, they left with personal light weapons only. The defeated in a battle doesn’t have the luxury to place any demand.

The same route taken by Nusra terrorists, al-Qaeda Levant, who lost the battles in the rural Arsal last month and were removed towards Idlib in Syria. Both terrorist groups chose to take the deal offered to them by Hezbollah and the Syrian Arab Army instead of facing complete annihilation especially after they faced the Lebanese Resistance on the Lebanese side of the Qalamon Mountains and the SAA on the Syrian side of the mountains determined to clean the area from them.

ISIS still maintains a presence further to the north and the easy task left to the Lebanese Army to deal with them, while the Syrian Arab Army will handle them on the Syrian side of the border. What delays this long awaited battle is the same Lebanese officials on the Saudi payroll insisting on not dealing with the Syrian state even to save their own country and against all norms and reality.

Lebanon that was meant to serve as the hub to destabilize Syria and assist in destroying the Syrian state using a considerable number of Lebanese political parties and some of the Lebanese state agencies under their control now is heading to be cleaned and restored to a state.

The price paid in such US-led intervention adventures is never cheap. Syrians, Iraqis, and Yemenis paid a hefty price in blood and infrastructure by agents of the US and its regional minions and faced death with their braveness until death declared defeat. Saudi’s lost war in Yemen and its desperate search for a face-saving exit from its failed aggression against its poorest neighbor was one of the factors in the abandoning of these terrorist groups.

The Syrian Arab Army and its allies heroism and bravery were the main reason these terrorist groups gave up its masters dream of controlling this region.

There is still more hard work to be done to clean the whole Levant and Iraq from this US invented disease, now more achievable than earlier especially with the US trying to find other conflicts to stir in Latin America, namely against Venezuela, and in east Asia against North Korea and China.