Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Gains Upper-Hand in Jobar Town

The Syrian army has gained the upper-hand in Jobar town in Damascus countryside after winning full control over strategic areas in the region, informed military sources announced on Sunday.
The sources told FNA that army troops have seized back full control over several strategic districts in Jobar countryside.

“Separation of Zamalka district from Jobar is tantamount to cutting the relief and supply routes to the militants in Eastern Ghouta,” the military sources said.

Also in the past 24 hours, the locals of Sbeihan and al-Dweir towns in the Northeastern province of Deir Ezzur clashed with terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group after the militants captured women.

The clashes broke out after ISIL terrorists held a number of women from the two towns captive, an informed source said, adding that scores of the terrorists were killed.

This is not the first time such clashes erupt between locals and members of terrorist organizations, as those organizations, particularly ISIL, have been committing unspeakable atrocities against civilians in the areas under their control that have drawn the ire of the residents.

Examples of those atrocities included abduction, killing, gang-rape, mutilation, decapitation and crucifixion. The latest of such abhorrent crimes took place on December 9 where ISIL terrorists murdered, decapitated and crucified four civilians in al-Bukamal city in Deir Ezzur.

The Syrian Army continued to gain more ground against militant groups in surrounding areas of Hama province, claiming the lives of scores of Takfiri militants.

Also, the militants suffered major losses in the village of Jana al-Albawi in Hama countryside, as the army made major advances in the province.

Also, a report said that supporters of the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group in Britain are coaxing British girls as young as 14 into becoming sex slaves for the militants operating in Syria.

London-based “facilitators” are helping the teenagers to apply for passports; funding and sometimes even accompanying them to the ISIL strongholds in Syria, the Evening Standard reported on Friday.

The report added that groups working particularly in the east of London are becoming hotbeds for young ISIL supporters to get into the conflict zone in Syria.

“The average age is being reduced. Some of the girls getting out there are only 14,” Haras Rafiq said, an expert at British counterterrorism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation.

“There are people here who have facilitated passports. Girls who are under a certain age are being accompanied by an adult over 18, usually a woman, to go help them. Help them apply for a passport, and even take them out there,” Rafiq added.

Earlier this month, police stopped a plane on the runway at London Heathrow Airport to remove a 15-year-old girl who was bound for Syria to join ISIL.

Officials had said the plane was bound for Istanbul but was ordered to turn around as it taxied down the runway.

The girl, who was from Tower Hamlets in east London, had secretly saved up to buy a ticket from London to Istanbul and planned to continue her journey through Turkey and over the border into Syria.

Dozens of young women are believed to be among more than 500 British people who have travelled to join ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

ISIL currently controls some parts of Syria and Iraq. They have carried out heinous atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheadings of people.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists.

Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.

Source: FNA