Syrian army soldiers, allies recapture more districts in Aleppo
Syrian government forces have managed to gain more ground against foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants in the strategic northwestern city of Aleppo.
Army troops established full control over the Kindi Hospital, the al-Shaqif area, al-Hamra Hill as well as 16 farmlands near the deserted Handarat refugee camp in the northern flank of Aleppo, which is some 355 kilometers north of the capital, Damascus, Syria’s official SANA reported on Monday.
Scores of terrorists were killed during the offensives, and dozens of others fled the battle zones to save their lives. The Syrian army and pro-government popular defense groups have launched operations to hunt them down.
Elsewhere in the town of al-Darkhabiya on the western outskirts of Damascus, army units retook a number of farms and buildings from foreign-backed militants in a joint operation with pro-government fighters.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said an army unit destroyed vehicles belonging to terrorists in the Dara’a al-Mahatta neighborhood in the southwestern city of Dara’a, located about 13 kilometers north of the border with Jordan.
Additionally, several members of the Takfiri Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militant group, formerly known as Nusra Front, were also killed in a Syrian army operation in the town of al-Yadouda.
‘Russia serious in anti-terror fight’
In a separate development, an unnamed official at the Syrian Foreign Ministry said Russia’s airstrikes against militant positions across Syria have helped tighten the grip on terrorist groups and prevented the spread of terrorism to other countries.
The source underlined that the attacks proved Russia’s credibility and seriousness in the fight against terrorism, which is posing threats to regional and international security, peace and stability.
Russia has been bombing militants, including Daesh and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorist groups, in Syria at the official request of President Bashar al-Assad since September 30, 2015.
Syria’s foreign-sponsored conflict started in March 2011 and has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 people, according to an estimate by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.
EU humanitarian plan
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has proposed a new humanitarian initiative aimed at delivering aid to the people trapped in Aleppo and to allow civilians out of the militant-held parts of the city.
The initiative, taken in cooperation with the UN, seeks the immediate evacuation of wounded and sick civilians plus all those in urgent need of medical care, especially women, children and the elderly, from conflict zones in the eastern part of Aleppo.
“The EU calls on all parties to urgently provide the necessary authorizations for aid delivery and for medical evacuations to proceed. It intends to work intensively in the next hours and days with the parties concerned to make this happen,” read a statement by EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini, and Christos Stylianides, who is the EU’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.
