[Al Ahram] Syrian troops backed by fighters from the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah retook a key town outside Damascus from rebels on Thursday, a monitor said.Pro-regime fighters used festivities between rival rebel factions 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...
and Faylaq al-Rahman as an opportunity to retake Deir al-Assafir, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
As rebels summoned their fighters from Deir al-Assafir to the frontline, regime forces launched "a violent attack and heavy air campaign resulting in them controlling the town," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Salafist tough guys had controlled Deir al-Assafir, located in the opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta, since 2012.
In April fighting erupted opposing Jaish al-Islam against Faylaq al-Rahman and another rebel group, Jaish al-Fustat -- both allied to Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The regime had been trying to retake Deir al-Assafir since February, Abdel Rahman said, despite the Eastern Ghouta region being included in a fragile nationwide ceasefire between the army and non-jihadist rebels.
The latest advance with Hezbollah's support comes just days after the Iran-backed movement said its top military commander was killed in Syria in an attack it blamed on Islamist holy warriors.The movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine had led its intervention in support of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
More than 270,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in Syria in March 2011.