...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...group on Saturday has thwarted regime offensive in the embattled Eastern Ghouta suburbs near Damascus, local monitor said.
The multi-axes attack took place in Hosh Nasri, Hosh al-Dhawahra and al-Marj district, according to Douma Local Coordination.
In Western Ghouta, regime helicopters dropped 8 barrel bombs on the towns of Beit Jen and Mugeer al-Mir. No casualties reported.