Source: Fars News
Terrorist groups in the Southern province of Dara’a demanded reintroduction of the reconciliation plan after the Syrian Army troops managed to advance against them in several flanks on Saturday.

The army men, supported by the artillery and missile units, carried out heavy attacks on terrorists’ strongholds from the three flanks of the village of al-Bustan, Harran Air Defense Base and Sama al-Hanidat region in Northeastern Dara’a.

The army men managed to drive terrorists out of Deir Dama and al-Bustan settlements in al-Lajah region in Northeastern Dara’a and cut off militants’ supplying lines.

In the meantime, local sources reported that the army’s rapid advances in Dara’a province caused the terrorist groups to lay down their arms in the villages and towns of al-Lajah region and agree to the army’s terms and conditions, calling for implementation of reconciliation plan.

Meanwhile, the army’s helicopters dropped thousands of leaflets in the towns of al-Harrah, Aqraba and Kafr Shams in Dara’a province, calling on terrorists to hand over their weapons and surrender to the army men.

On Thursday night, the army’s artillery and missile units launched very heavy attacks on terrorists’ strongholds in Northeastern Dara’a to introduce the preliminary phase of a major operation in the Southern part of the country.

Using a variety of artillery shells and surface-to-surface missiles, the army unleashed a relentless assault last night that targeted the positions of Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) in al-Lajah region.

The army could score several direct hits against the terrorists, resulting in a series of powerful explosions that could be heard from a long distance away.

According to a military source at the government stronghold of Izra’a, the army launched more than 30 missiles towards the terrorist-held towns of Busra Al-Sham, Busra Al-Harir, and Al-Karak.

Source: Press TV
Foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants have handed over large quantities of munitions and explosive devices, some of them Israeli-made, before their evacuation from towns south of the Syrian capital Damascus to the country’s north.

Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Saturday that the extremists gave away their weapons as they left Yelda, Babila and Beit Sahem towns for northern Syria as part of a process to declare southern Damascus free from terrorism.

There were 60mm, 80mm and 120mm mortar shells, 14.5mm and 23mm PK machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices and Israeli-made landmines among the weapons.

This comes as Syrian government forces have on numerous occasions found considerable amounts of foreign-made munitions, including Israeli-made ones, from terrorists’ hideouts across the war-ravaged Arab country.

The Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported on May 4 that Syrian army troopers had launched a clean-up operation in the southern part of Homs, located 162 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, and uncovered a huge cache of Israeli-made munitions, including chemical warfare and digital equipment, meant to be distributed among anti-government extremist groups.

On April 3, Syrian troops carried out operations in the villages of al-Salihiyah, al-Dweir, al-Kishma and Sabikhan in the country’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr near the border with Iraq, and discovered Israeli-built chemical substances, explosive materials and weapons there.

Syrian soldiers also uncovered several artillery shells produced by some members of NATO.

An unnamed Syrian military source said many rocket-propelled grenades were found inside the Daesh arms cache in Salihiyah, while the depot in Dweir contained rocket launchers as well as mortar shells of different kinds.

In September 2016, Israeli legislator Akram Hasoon accused the Tel Aviv regime of directly providing military assistance to members of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hasoon, in a post published on his Facebook page, said the extremists were shelling the Druze village of Khadr under the generous support and protection of Israel’s minister of military affairs Avigdor Lieberman.

He wrote that Israel had offered advanced technological equipment to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militants in order to give them the upper hand in clashes with Syrian government forces.

Source: RT
At least 1500 civilians trying to leave the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta were prevented from doing so by militants, with several people who were trying to leave on Thursday killed or injured, the Russian military said.

People are calling the hotline set up by the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, saying they are “tired of the tyranny by the militants; they complain about the unbearable conditions and are eager to flee the area, even bypassing the established humanitarian corridor,” Major General Yury Yevtushenko, the head of the Reconciliation Center, said in a statement on Thursday.

“According to our estimations, at least 150,000 residents are ready to leave Eastern Ghouta,” he said, adding that the militants holed up in the suburb of the Syrian capital are “putting maximum effort” into preventing the people from doing so.

“The illegal armed groups have intensified repressive measures against the population and increased the intensity of shelling of the Mukhayyam – al-Wafideen checkpoint,” with the militant fire not even stopping during humanitarian pauses, Yevtushenko said. “At the moment nobody from the enclave was able to reach the checkpoint.”

The terrorists also opened fire at hundreds of civilians, who were being moved to the Jisreen – Mleha checkpoint, which was established by the Syrian authorities on Thursday. There are fatalities and injuries as a result of the attack, with three cars also burnt, the head of the Reconciliation Center said, adding that the checkpoint was itself shelled later in the day.

The militants in Eastern Ghouta have also continued the bombardment of Damascus and its suburbs, firing eight mortar shells at the city and injuring nine people. The activities of the terrorists have led to the humanitarian convoy, which was to be delivered to the residents of Eastern Ghouta on Thursday, being postponed. “Humanitarian assistance… will be resumed after the situation stabilizes,” Yevtushenko said.

He reiterated that the humanitarian corridor in Eastern Ghouta remains open to both civilians and militants who are willing to flee. Using violence to prevent people from leaving and using them as human shields is “unacceptable,” the head of the Reconciliation Center said, again urging the armed groups to allow exit from the enclave.

A Russia-backed ceasefire came into effect in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta around a week ago in order to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and evacuation of civilians through a specially established humanitarian corridor. However, the militants ignored the truce as they continued shelling Damascus and fired at those trying to leave the area. An estimated 400,000 people remain trapped in besieged Eastern Ghouta since 2013.

By Tim Anderson
Source: Khamenei News
For four long years, Syria bravely held off internationalized terrorist hordes, ideological clones of al-Saud, with their only direct help from Hezbollah, plus logistic support from Russia and Iran. However, it took more direct engagement by Russia and Iran to turn the tide of that defensive war and convincingly defeat the proxy armies of Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh.

When General Qassem Soleimani presented the victory letter to his leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, announcing the end of DAESH rule in the region, it was not simply a message from an Iranian General to his Commander in Chief.

This was the message of a regional resistance leader, a key strategist, who had fought the enemy from Saddam Hussein’s assaults on Iran, through defense of south Lebanon from Israel’s incursions, to defeats of al-Nusra in the towns of the Qalamoun, to the liberations of Aleppo and Tikrit, and the series of victories over DAESH (ISIS), culminating in those at Deir Ezzor and al-Bukamal.

General Soleimani’s personal supervision of operations across four allied countries shows why the Islamic Republic of Iran is so feared by both Tel Aviv and Washington. Yet breaking the destructive influence of Israel and the US in the region necessarily means a greater responsibility for Iran. Without a cohesive alliance, the region will again come under attack, to be once again divided and pillaged. Strong regional leadership is essential; and only Iran is capable of providing it.

The IRGC Quds Force leader wrote:

“Six years ago a dangerous plot … covered the Islamic world like a devastating storm … [but] the resistance of the Iraqi and Syrian governments and the perseverance of the armies and young men of these two countries … played an important role in overturning this dangerous event … [I can announce] the termination of the rule of this vicious cursed entity, following the liberation operation of Abu Kamal, as the last fort of ISIS, bringing down the flag of this US-Zionist made terrorist group and raising the flag of Syria.”

Credit for this tremendous achievement lies in the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies, the Russian pilots, sappers and special forces, the Hezbollah-led Lebanese resistance and Iraq’s army and its popular mobilization forces: Hashd al Shaabi. All victories were paid for in the blood of the many, mostly young people who defended their nations.

But it was the coordination and combined power of this alliance that imposed itself on the region. When, in his humble way, General Soleimani told Iran’s leader that DAESH had been defeated, he was also telling the world that the Axis of Resistance had prevailed. It was not that all terrorism had been eliminated, but rather that all the major bases of the enemy had been taken by the Regional Resistance.

And where would the region be without that Resistance? Lebanon, a state set up to fail, would have disintegrated many years ago. The invited intervention of Syria in the 1970s prevented that disintegration, followed by the rise of an indigenous resistance movement. That movement, led by Hezbollah and aided by Iran, saved Lebanon, while holding off the Zionist colonizers.

For four long years, Syria bravely held off internationalized terrorist hordes, ideological clones of al-Saud, with their only direct help from Hezbollah, plus logistic support from Russia and Iran. However, it took more direct engagement by Russia and Iran to turn the tide of that defensive war and convincingly defeat the proxy armies of Washington, Tel Aviv and Riyadh.

In Iraq – where DAESH was created more than a decade ago, precisely to weaken Baghdad and prevent its constructive relationship with Tehran – the American ‘liberators’ once against betrayed the country. In 2014, Washington withheld the F-16 fighter planes purchased by Prime Minister al Maliki, just as DAESH overwhelmed Mosul. It took another indigenous resistance movement, Hashd al Shaabi, to rise and vindicate Iraq as a nation.

Now the enemy smears both Hezbollah and Hashd al Shaabi, with lies that they are extreme sectarians who do not care about their own people. Coming from the sponsors of al Qaeda, al Nusra and DAESH, that is hard to stomach.

It is true that important resistance initiatives have come from the Shi’a communities of Lebanon and Iraq. There are historical reasons for this, to do with histories of oppression, martyrdom and resistance. However, those same histories, of an alliance of the downtrodden (the mustadafin) have helped engage those communities with their neighbors. Mature leadership in both resistance communities has succeeded in building wider alliances.

The sectarian accusation, particularly from western and Zionist sources, has much to do with the frustration of their ‘divide and rule’ strategies, as also their dismay in seeing a revival of political will amongst their opponents. Nevertheless, sectarian accusations can never explain Iranian support for pluralist Syria and Sunni Muslim Palestine; nor the Hezbollah-Christian alliance in Lebanon; nor the powerful Shia-Sunni alliance within Hashd al Shaabi.

The fact is that a tremendous Axis of Resistance victory is unfolding, one that confounds the colonial powers. Despite the investment in huge, sectarian mercenary armies, the prosecution of a crippling economic war and a seemingly endless propaganda war, Washington’s plan to dismember and cripple the region is failing.

*Professor Tim Anderson is a distinguished author and senior lecturer of political economy at the University of Sydney, Australia. Author of the ‘The Dirty War on Syria’, he has been largely published on various issues particularly the Syrian crisis.

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.

Source: Fars
Local sources reported a series of blasts at the positions of Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board) and Ahrar al-Sham in Idlib’s countryside, adding that the explosions escalated tensions and insecurity across the region.

The sources said that 15 people were killed and several more were wounded in an explosion caused by a bomb-laden car in the Central part of the town of al-Dana.

In the meantime, a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated near al-Dana chechpoint, killing and wounding several people.

Also, another bomb went off at a bazaar in al-Dana.

The sources went on to say that another bomb blast rocked the al-Zabit neighborhood West of Idlib city, while a fifth explosion caused by an explosive-laden motorbike hit the Northern countryside of Idlib.

Another road-side bomb was blown up on the main road to the town of Kafroumeh West of Ma’arat al-Nu’aman, while, another bomb blast killed a number of people in the township of Tal Hadeh in Northern countryside of Idlib.

News websites affiliated to terrorists confirmed the blasts, saying that the targeted regions are now in a state of chaos.

Terrorist groups are accusing each others starting a fresh round of blasts and insecurity.

Reports said on Tuesday that the terrorist groups intensified assassination operations in Idlib after Doha and Riyadh displayed their differences and darkened relations.

After differences between Saudi Arabia and Qatar surfaced, Abdullah Muhammad al-Muhaysini, the commander and Mufti (religious leader) of Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board), called on other terrorist groups to merge with al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) under this pretext that Riyadh wants to withdraw support for the militants and will surrender all of them to the US at the end.

He also asked Yasser Abdolrahim, one of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) commanders, to join al-Nusra but he didn’t comply with the demand.

Abdolrahim escaped an assassination attempt after rejecting al-Muhaysini’s proposal and threatened him of revenge.
Field sources also underlined that the terrorist groups in Idlib are facing a deplorable situation as assassinations have increased, adding that al-Nusra is using the darkened ties between Doha and Riyadh and wants to persuade other terrorist groups, including the FSA, to merge with al-Nusra by annihilation of opposition groups.

According to reports, Muhaysini has himself escaped death in two attempted assassinations in recent days, as the assassination operations against terrorist commanders has intensified in Idlib.
News websites affiliated to the opposition groups reported earlier this month that the car carrying al-Muhaysini came under attack near Ma’arat al-Nu’aman in Idlib on June 7 and he received a bullet in his foot.

Ten days later, al-Muhaysini narrowly escaped death in an assassination attempt which resulted in death of one of his bodyguards.

In an attempt to assassinate al-Muhaysini, a suicide bomber blew up himself beside his car near Abuzar Qaffari Mosque in Idlib city center, but the mufti of Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at escaped death while his bodyguard was killed.

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar, and suspended air and sea communication one week after the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.
Later, Libya, Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania joined that list of nation to break off diplomatic relations with Doha.

Jordan and Djibouti have also announced that Amman and Djibouti decided to reduce their diplomatic status after studying reasons behind the tension between Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Manama with Qatar.