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Jaysh Al-Islam foils large Syrian Army offensive in East Ghouta
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a big attack inside the East Ghouta region of Damascus this week, targeting the Hawsh Dawahra area that is controlled by 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.... According to a military report earlier this week, the Syrian Arab Army was able to briefly infiltrate Jaish al-Islam’s front-lines, but were forced to after a swift counterattack by the latter. The report added that Jaish al-Islam had heavily fortified the area with many trenches, which were used to surprise the Syrian Army troops attempting to advance on the Hawsh Dawhra area in the East Ghouta. Posted by: Fred 2018-02-03 |
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