Clashes resumed between Assad’s troops & opposition

Syrian governmental troops resumed clashes with the opposition parties in the districts of Qabon, Teshreen and Barza Garden During the clashes, the opposition factions destroyed a 14.5-mm machine gun of the government forces on the Autostrad front of Damascus-Homs and captured two elements.

In the countryside of Damascus, the air force launched air raids on the city of Arbeen in the eastern Ghouta, mortar shells fell on the city of Douma, while the town of Otaya came under artillery bombardment, resulting in injuries. Fierce battles continued between the Army of Islam on one hand and Tahrir Al Sham group and Rahman Corps on the other hand In the eastern Ghouta, as Tahrir Al Sham managed to control the towns of Jisreen and Haza, amid continuing clashes in the towns of Ash'ari, Aftris, Muhammadiyah and Arabin. The city of Arbeen witnessed demonstrations, as the elements of the Army of Islam shot them leading to a large number of injuries.

Violent clashes broke out between the opposition factions and elements of IS in Yarmouk camp south of Damascus, during which a number of elements of the organization were killed. In the countryside of Damascus, the air force launched air raids on the city of Arbeen in the eastern Ghouta, accompanied by artillery shelling on cities and towns in the area, leaving many injured. Clashes between Jaysh al-Islam and Tahrir al-Sham forces on one hand and forces loyal to IS on the other hand in eastern Ghouta, leaving six civilian deaths, and and more than 60 killed from the ranks of the two sides.

In the same context, IS organization launched an offensive against the positions of the factions, which they liberated in the past few weeks, in the eastern Qalamoun and managed to regain control of the well of al-Manqoura, Zubaida, Dabaa and its surroundings.

In Aleppo, the factions managed to destroy two 14.5-mm machine guns of the regime forces on the front of Al-Zahraa neighborhood, west of Aleppo, while the military aircraft launched air raids on Al-Rashidin. An ISIS attack on Tuesday against a position held by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria killed at least 24 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said.

The attack on a checkpoint at Rajm al-Salibi, the location of a refugee camp near the border between Syria and Iraq, led to violent clashes, the Observatory reported. More than 30 other people were also injured, it said. The SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab militias, has seized large swathes of northern Syria from Islamic State over the past 18 months and is engaged in a campaign to drive the jihadist group from its de facto regional capital of Raqqa.

On Monday, the SDF captured most of the strategically vital town of Tabqa, 40 km (25 miles) west of Raqqa along the Euphrates, it said. It said on Tuesday that fierce fighting continued to capture the last few districts of the town as well as an adjacent dam, Syria’s largest, and the last major obstacle remaining before it can begin its assault on Raqqa.

Tuesday’s Islamic State attack on Rajm al-Salibi was targeted at the Asayish, a Kurdish security force that operates in northeast Syria, the Observatory said. Syrian army troops managed, on Monday, to retake several villages, strategic locations and oil wells in the eastern countryside of Homs, as well as driving out the Islamic State militants, SANA News Agency quoted a military source on Monday.

The military source said that the army managed to recapture the villages of Rajm al-Kasr, al-Rajm al-Aali and Rajm Dergham, and imposed its control over al-Medraja hills, al-A’lam al-Gharbeya, al-Treks, Sha’er communications station, Sha’er Lab, Qarat al-Bak and Thanyat al-Ruz Mountain. The army forces also recaptured the oil wells number 103, 108, 110, 112, and approached the main oil well number 105 in al-Sha’er oil field, the source added.

Furthermore, the offensive resulted in eliminating large number of the Islamic State’s militants, in addition to destroying their vehicles and equipment, the source explained. Meanwhile, social media websites revealed that the Syrian army advances into the eastern countryside of al-Makhram, and recaptured al-A’lam hill near Umm al-Sehreej city.