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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army approaches strategic West Ghouta town amid jihadist collapse
2016-10-23
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their large-scale offensive in the West Ghouta region of rural Damascus on Saturday, targeting the farms outside the strategic town of Khan al-Sheih.

Led by the 4th and 7th division, the Syrian Arab Army's advanced from the recently captured al-Buwaydah Farms to southwestern perimeter of Khan al-Sheih, where they encountered fierce resistance from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
(formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
Front).

Under the cover Arclight airstrikes, the Syrian Armed Forces managed to break-through Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's front-lines, resulting in the capture of the entire southwestern axis of Khan al-Sheih.

According to an al-Masdar field correspondent in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Air Force played an integral role in Saturday's advance, as their relentless Arclight airstrikes destroyed at least three armored vehicles that possessed ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles).

The Syrian Armed Forces renewed this large-scale in the West Ghouta region on Friday; this will be the government's top priority for the coming days as they continue to negotiate with 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) in the East Ghouta.

Posted by:Fred

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