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Jaysh Al-Islam suffers heavy casualties in failed East Ghouta offensive
[ALMASDARNEWS] Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
(Army of Islam) launched a massive counter-offensive in the East Ghouta region of rural Damascus on Friday, targeting the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) controlled al-Reyhan Farms.

However,
alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk...
the Jaish al-Islam offensive would end as fast as it started on Friday, thanks in large-part to the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) fierce resistance and their local scouts that provided intel regarding the enemy’s movements near al-Reyhan Farms.

Video footage from the battle was captured by the Syrian Arab News Agency on Friday, showing several Jaish al-Islam casualties littered across the al-Reyhan frontline:

Jaish al-Islam has since retreated from the al-Reyhan Farms after suffering a large number of casualties and little progress at this volatile front.


Posted by: Fred 2016-09-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=466537