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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) are attempting to separate Jobar and Zamalka areas in eastern Damascus countryside. They have advanced along the M5 highway and claimed capturing some buildings in the process. Clashes have also continued in Ayn Tarma. Faylaq Al-Rahman and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are two militant groups opposing the SAA and the NDF in the area.
The SAA, the NDF and other pro-government factions have fully liberated the al-Hayl gas field area, including hills near the gas field, from ISIS terrorists in the countryside of Palmyra.
The SAA and its allies entered the al-Hayl gas field area earlier this month, captured the al-Hayl gas station, and engaged ISIS units in an intense fighting in the area. On Tuesday, government forces got a full control over the area and seized hills overlooking the gas field. However, ISIS launched a counter-attack in an attempt to the field. An intense fighting is now ongoing.
ISIS had set up a series of strongpoints in the mountain area along the Palmyra-Deir Ezzor highway. These strongpoints became an obstruction for the government forces attempting to reach the strategic town of Sukhna.
The video has appeared online showing a large convoy of pro-government tribal fighters allegedly moving to participate in the expected government operation against ISIS in Deir Ezzor. According to the report, some 4,000 tribal fighters will participate in the advance. However, this number looks overestimated.
A Russian military adviser, Nikolay Afanasov, has been killed as a result of mortar shelling from militants in Hama province, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday. The captain was tasked with training Syrian ground forces. He was granted a state decoration posthumously. According to official statements, 34 Russian military servicemen have been killed since the start of the operation in Syria.
An intense fighting continued between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and ISIS inside the city of Raqqah. SDF units, backed up by the US-led coalition airpower and artillery, are pressuring on ISIS defense lines in western and eastern Raqqah in an attempt to reach the city center and divide it into two parts via the al Firdaws street. ISIS uses snipers and suicide bombers countering the US-backed advance.
Meanwhile, the SDF has established of the first female Arab battalion within the US-backed group. The recently created battalion was named the Battalion of Martyr Amara for Arab Women. The declared aim of the move is to fight ISIS terrorists in eastern Syria and to protect women rights. The creation of the Battalion of Martyr Amara for Arab Women was officially announced by Rojda Seyar, an SDF field commander, on Monday.
Some updates:
Tiger Forces Back In Action.
“…Few days ago we shared at Syrper that the Tiger Forces were already on the move, today it is confirmed the Tiger has been expanding the safety zone around Resafa and soon we will hear the news of liberation of several villages south of Resafa. The Tiger Forces’ black out news is on and we will continue to hear delays of their progress, for obvious reasons. Anyhow, the awesome news is that the Tiger is back, rolling toward Der ez Zor.”
Suweida/Eastern Pocket No More.
“… The Suweida/Eastern Damascus pocket is basically no more, if there is any rat left inside the desert area, he will die, the pocket is sealed by fire control and soon physically trapped inside. The SAA and allies are clearly advancing toward the Jordanian border, the whole area inside the red lines will be most likely secure, there are no villages, basically empty desert and small hills, US terrorists won’t be able to hold the dry ground that easily. The area inside the red line has less strategic importance vs the Suweida pocket (which protects, Damascus and many airbases near Daraa Province, but the rats won’t be allowed to control the Jordanian border, in time they will be eliminated from there.”
East Ghouta.
“… The battle continues non stop in Ain Terma, Jobar and Zamalka, the latest gains place the RGs in a very good position to cut off Jobar from East Ghouta thus destroying the remaining tunnels. This battle is fundamental for the end of rat presence inside East Ghouta, losing the area inside the red lines will mean a lot for the whole war of aggression against Syria, it will mean the terrorists and their foreign partners will lose the ability to hit Damascus and will be pushed to less dense urban areas with the exception of Douma, the last rat standing before knelling to the the SAA.
The impact of losing at Ain Terma, Zamalka and Jobar will be severe for all terrorists inside Syria, the only reason they stayed in East Ghouta and did not take any reconciliation offer is that they could still hit Damascus with terror, and this will be gone.”
Major Offensive in Northern Qalamoun.
“… Al Qaeda and ISIS will be completely eliminated in the last standing at northern Qalamoun.
Hizballah, the Lebanese Army and the NDF are days alway of a major offensive, SAAF has hit the terrorists hard for 2 days, and soon the ground forces will advance. This will eliminate the last terrorists presence in the Qalamoun, which have no strength for military offensive but continues to do terror around the villages in Lebanon and Syria. Slowly, the many pockets inside Syria will be rat free.
The final victory at the Qalamoun will be a tremendous boost for Hizballah inside Lebanon, the ordinary, non terrorist supporter, Lebaneses know very well Hizballah has done a tremendous sacrifice to save Lebanon from terror in the past 4 years.
Abadi & the USA.
[“The Iraqi government has expressed an interest in having the US forces and coalition forces remain after the defeat of ISIS”]
“… if Abadi plays the US card stay, he will lose the reelection. The vast majority of Iraqis want the foreigners out of the country. By now they fully support Abadi, but all can change, the fact is the Iraqis are tired from foreign occupation and they will emerge strong and proud from defeating ISIS, something Abadi can either capitalize in his favor, but he can not and most likely will not disregards. I do not buy the “US stays” option for Iraq, yet.
Interesting times ahead, we should never forget the amount of influence Iran has in Iraq nowadays, not so much at the Government level but at eh vast majority of the population.”
What Derails Planned ‘US-Israeli Military Operation’ in Syria
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201707131055506148-us-israeli-plan-syria/
“The United States and Israel were jointly preparing a military operation in Syria but the plan was abandoned following reports about S-400 missile defense systems put on combat alert in the region, according to Syrian political adviser Suleiman al Suleiman.
According to the adviser, the operation was planned to be carried on July 2-4.
“The operation was cancelled after reports emerged that Russia’s S-400 missile defense systems and a missile attack warning system had been activated in Syria,” al-Suleiman said in an interview with Sputnik Arabic.
In a recent interview with Sputnik Persian, Emad Abshenass, an Iranian political analyst and editor-in-chief of Iran Press newspaper, said that a US-Israeli “plan to divide Syria” was foiled due to Iran’s role in the conflict.
“Iran’s active engagement in Syria and Iraq has significantly helped the Syrian Army in the fight against Daesh. In fact, Iran’s involvement helped disturb the plan of the United States and Israel to divide Syria and Iraq. This is why Israel is looking for an excuse to justify its strikes on Syria’s territory,” Abshenass said.
In June, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched several attacks on the positions of the Syrian Army and its allied forces.
Commenting on the incidents, Syrian military and strategic expert Maj. Gen. Yahia Suleiman suggested that Israel’s “aggression” was “part of a plan” on destabilizing Syria and weakening Damascus’ allies.”
Note that while the Syrians have been correctly identifying the war against them as being carried out by israel using proxies or by israel-america, the Russian English language media, in the past, tended to leave out the israeli connection. That is changing. Articles like the one selected are now talking about israeli involvement regularly now.
Putin always likes to have his opponent in motion. Easier to throw to the mat.
With a flick of the switch, he grounded US and Israelis. Strike First!
He knows how to handle the enemy, whoever it is.
Russia has stakes in the region as seriously as in Ukraine, Kaliningrad and Central Asia and the Kuril Islands. It’s all the same.
It will take a while before Israel realizes the new pecking order. Russia, Iran, Turkey come ahead of the Israeli-Arab alliance.
Just in:
Tiger Forces Liberate Large Areas.
“… As anticipated few days ago, the Tiger Forces have been on the move for few days, many villages and sites are secured south, east and SE of Resafa, but not disclosed yet, soon the MoD will announce and it does so it will be a large liberated area.
The area inside the red lines is of great importance to Syria, there are dozens of oil and gas fields that are vital to the economy of Syria moving forward, once this area is safe, ISIS will be blocked in Hama and central Homs for a slow cooking and flanks will be protect to advance toward Der ez Zor and Euphrates, it is possible the Tiger has in motion multiple fronts and would not doubt to see them moving toward the Euphrates to secure the bank there blocking SDF to advance further (they have done that in Maskaneh and Manbij).”
Suweida / Eastern Damascus Cauldron.
The pincer move in Suweida and eastern Damascus Provinces are about to meet today or tomorrow, closing the 10 kms gap between the recently liberated Abu Kashbah area and Tell al Jarin, leaving one hill in the middle of it to be captured, Tell abu el Qanafedh.
As explained yesterday, the situation for the rats inside this tight cauldron is hopeless, there is no water and no supply lines, they are actually trying to flee from it as best as they can, but the corridor is getting tighter by the day. They lost all strategic points and can only hope to preserve their terrorists in a retreat. Without the proximity to Suweida and East Ghouta, the US terrorists in the Syrian desert will have little value for their pay masters, there is a growing chance for this band to cease to exist in Syria, holding the border crossing in Iraq and Jordan won’t do it for them, and Jordan wants badly commerce to resume with Syria.”
Bloody Battle At Ain Terma, East Ghouta.
“… Rats continue to lose ground in East Ghouta, at Ain Terma, this battle has been particularly bloody, loses are high on both sides.”
Good News From Northeast Hama.
“… Good news will continue to flow from northeast Hama, villages have started to be liberated in a faster pace due to the pre work done in the past 3 weeks to secure the key vital positions that gave fire control of large areas inside the pocket, the phase now seems to be to advance on those areas with fire control, so we will hear constant flow of news regarding liberations, mostly in the Salamiyah-Ithriyah road and northwest of T4, see map below.”
American contractors have been shipping weapons from countries in eastern Europe to terror groups in Syria.
An investigation by Bulgarian reporter Dilyana Gaytandzhieva revealed that Azerbaijan’s state-run Silk Way Airlines has shipped under diplomatic cover 350 planeloads of heavy weapons and ammunition to terrorist groups.
Azerbaijan asked the Foreign Ministries of various countries to issue a diplomatic exemption for these flights, allowing civilian planes to carry weapons which would normally be prohibited by the International Air Transport Association.
The reporter’s information is based on a large number of emails sent to her by an anonymous source: “The leaked files include correspondence between the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Bulgaria with attached documents for weapons deals and diplomatic clearance for overflight and/or landing in Bulgaria and many other European countries,” in addition to Syria, Iraq, the United States, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, and Israel, to name a few.
noravank.am
Hi Saker,
Just read about the S400 deal with Turkey. What is the rationale behind this?
I’ve cut an extract
“…In a move that Bloomberg has defined as “signalling a turn away from the NATO military alliance that has anchored Turkey to the West for more than six decades” Turkey agreed to pay $2.5 billion to acquire Russia’s most advanced missile defense system, a senior Turkish official told Bloomberg on Thursday. The proposed deal which was first reported here back in November 2016, has been finalized and the preliminary agreement sees Turkey receiving two S-400 missile batteries from Russia within the next year, then producing another two inside Turkey”.
What do you think is going on
Latest:
Effective and Fast Advance by the Tigers.
“… As expected, the Tiger Forces’ advance has been effective and fast, some key milestones already reached, see map below and comments:
1) Resafa to crossroad fully liberated with all villages.
2) Crossroad to Mount Bishiri and al Sukhanah already reached and under control, after the capture of Ridgem-Abe el-Kalat Hills.
3) D’Bissan (Dubaysan) oil field under fire control.
4) Al-Kadir oil field under fire control.
We will hear a lot of announcements with liberations this Friday.”
I appreciate these Canthama updates – but wonder where you find them?
I’ve looked on Syrian Perspective site with no success.
Can you post a link please?