Syrian regime forces bombarded Damascus southern countryside

The aerial bombardment of different areas in the Beit Jann farm in the western suburbs of Damascus coincided with repeated rocket attacks by Syrian government forces on the area following air strikes by helicopter and warplanes on the areas controlled by the factions and the liberation of the Sham in the same countryside.

The south-west countryside of Damascus is witnessing bombardments by Syrian government forces and helicopters, and a recent aerial bombardment of an explosive barrel on areas in the outskirts of Beit Jann farm and other areas in its vicinity.

Civil Defense Directorate in Idlib Province announced, on Sunday, that the prisoners’ affairs committee in the province has transferred remains from a mass grave in al-Hamediyah Base, in the countryside of Ma’ret al-Numan, to another grave in Idlib Syria.

The Spokesman for the Civil Defense in Ma’ret al-Numan, Mostafa Gharib, said in a press statement that the remains belong to regime members (soldiers and officers in Assad forces), who were killed in 2014.

The prisoners’ affairs committee transferred the remains without explaining the reasons, and also prohibited the Civil Defense forces from filming the process or giving any statements to the media, Gharib added. The grave contained remains of Assad troops that were killed during the ongoing battles with the rebels, while the latter was trying to capture the base.

It is noteworthy that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (Previously Nusra Front) and other rebels factions captured the military base, located on Damascus-Aleppo road, after fierce battles with the regime forces.

The area of Aleppo has joined the de-escalation areas after Astana 6 peace talks in September 15, to become the fourth area besides the northern countryside of Homs, Eastern Ghouta and the Syrian south.

According to reports, the city of Albukamal (Abu Kamal) became the largest gathering of the Islamic State members in Syria, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights suggested that there is more than 1000 IS members in the area.

The newspaper explained that the Syrian city of Albukamal has become the largest gathering of the Islamic State members in Syria and Iraq, after the liberation of Deir Ezzor and the recapture of the city of Qaim.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed that it monitored the entery of vehicles, belonging to the Islamic State group, coming from the area of Qaim to the city of Albukamal, after the Iraqi Forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi forces recaptured the crossing border to the city.

The Islamic State group has withdrawn from the crossing border, after the violet battles taking place in the southwestern vicinity of Albukamal, the SOHR added. Director of SOHR, Ramy Abdelrahman, said that it was conformed that the number of the Islamic State members in Albukamal exceeds 1000 members.

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi forces and allied forces of al-Hashd al-Shaabi and al-Hashd al-Ashaeri continue liberating the remaining areas located west of Anbar.

On the political side, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said on Monday he backs diplomatic efforts to resume the Geneva talks as ISIS neared its defeat in east Syria.

“Secretary (Rex) Tillerson engaged strongly with (UN envoy) Staffan de Mistura about how do we move what has been going on in Astana, how do we move that over to Geneva where we can actually get the UN engaged on the way forward,” he told reporters on a plane en route to Finland to meet with leaders from the Northern Group, Reuters reported on Monday.

The US Defense Secretary also said that with ISIS’s territory rapidly shrinking, the focus was on defeating it in the final few areas. Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrian civilians returned on Monday to one of Raqqa’s neighborhood after the removal of explosives left behind by ISIS, to become the first wave of returnees to the city, said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF said in a statement that they “informed civilians from al-Meshleb that they could return to their homes after mine-removal teams had finished clearing the entire neighborhood of explosives left indiscriminately in civilian homes by ISIS.” Senior council member Omar Alloush told AFP on Monday: “Yes, residents of Al-Meshleb returned to their homes - but the whole city hasn’t been cleared of mines yet.”