Syrian governmental troops bombarded opposition areas

Syrian governmental troops bombarded a number of areas controlled by the Syrian opposition in the districts of the Syrian city of Daraa on Monday with no information about humanitarian losses. They also bombarded Naima district of Daraa’s eastern countryside leading to material damages with no information about humanitarian losses or injuries.

Turkish-backed rebels fought each other on Sunday in the Syrian town of al Bab in the first bout of rebel fighting since they seized the town this year from Islamic State militants, rebels and witnesses said. It was not clear what triggered the armed clashes between rival rebel groups who hold sway in the city since it was seized last February from Islamic State militants.

Turkey sent warplanes, tanks and artillery into Syria last year in support of the Arab Sunni rebels, an operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield” which was aimed at driving both Islamic State and Kurdish militia forces away from its border. Checkpoints were spread by the Turkish-controlled military council that runs the city where thousands of people have been returning in recent months with the gradual resumption of basic services, a resident who was contacted in the city said.

The heavy clashes left several dead and scores injured, another rebel source said. Rebel infighting has been a major weakness of the revolt against President Bashar al Assad’s rule since its earliest days, with rebel factions divided by both ideology and local power struggles.

In the last few days deadly clashes have also broken out in the town of Maarat al Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib between Tahrir al Sham, a merger of jihadist groups spearheaded by a former al-Qaeda offshoot, and a Western-backed Free Syrian Army group.

Several members of the Syrian Democratic Forces were either killed or wounded in a landmine explosion, near Barsaya Mountain, west of Azaz, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, Qasioun News reported on Sunday.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out until the early hours of the morning, amid artillery and rockets shelling, while similar clashes took place in the villages of Sheikh Nasser, al-Lelyani, Awn al-Dadat, al-Halonji, al-Kart al-Shagheer, al-Kart al-Kabeer and Albughaz, near al-Bab City, east of Aleppo. Noteworthy, several clashes are taking place in the villages in the city of Azaz, since the Syrian Democratic Forces captured the city of Tal Refaat and other villages, in February 2016.

In the same context, A video released by the Islamic State-owned Amaq website showed aerial bombing, using white phosphorus munitions, which was claimed to be carried out by the US-led international coalition on the Syrian City of Raqqa.

13 persons were killed, while others were wounded in air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition, late on Thursday, using rockets and white phosphorus munitions, on al-Nour Street, west of the city of Raqqa, Qasioun News reported on Saturday.

The media outlet revealed that warplanes belonging to the US-led international coalition showered the city of Raqqa with white phosphorus, leaving more than 13 casualties, while added that the warplanes also bombarded an internet café in al-Jazra neighborhood, killing 18 persons.

Furthermore, coalition aircraft conducted more than ten air strikes, including five using white phosphorus, on the neighborhoods of al-Batani, al-Romaniyah and al-Qadisiyah, west of the city.

The often-controversial munitions are common in western militaries and are used primarily to create smoke screens, though they can also be dropped as an incendiary weapon. When a white phosphorus shell explodes, the chemical inside reacts with the air, creating a thick white cloud. When it comes in contact with flesh, it can maim and kill by burning to the bone, Washington Post reported.

Noteworthy, Syrian Democratic Forces announced, on Thursday, recapturing the area of the 17th brigade and the sugar plant, after fierce battles with the Islamic State.

US-led coalition warplanes carried out six air strikes, on Saturday, on the residential neighborhoods in Mayadin City, east of Deir Ezzor, Qasioun News reported. The air strikes were concentrated on Kansarwa Plant near the Euphrates River, and the Rural Recovery Center, resulting in the damage of some houses near al-Nour Mosque in al-Arbaeen Street, but no casualties were reported.

Meanwhile, Syrian army aviation conducted air strikes on the industrial area and al-Sekka area in al-Bukamal City, east of Deir Ezzor. Furthermore, two air strike were carried out on Ayash Town, west of Deir Ezzor, leaving a number of civilian casualties. Noteworthy, Deir Ezzor is witnessing ongoing battles between the Islamic State group and Syrian government forces, amid artillery shelling and air strikes.

U.S.-backed Syrian forces have advanced into opposite sides of Islamic State’s so-called Syrian capital of Raqqa, the forces and a war monitor said on Saturday. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a U.S.-led coalition, began to attack Raqqa on Tuesday after a months-long campaign to cut it off.

The U.S.-led coalition estimates that Raqqa, which Islamic State seized from Syrian rebels in 2014 during their lightning advance in Syria and Iraq, is defended by 3,000-4,000 jihadists. It has been a hub both for Islamic State’s military leaders and its bureaucrats, and has been used to plot attacks in countries around the world.

The SDF said it had seized al-Mishlab district in the far east of Raqqa on Friday and al-Sabahia district in the west. The war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the SDF had taken Mishlab and more than half of Sabahia.

The forces are now advancing into al-Romania district in northwest Raqqa, the SDF and the Observatory said. Islamic State had turned back an earlier SDF assault on a military base on the north side, the Observatory said.

Islamic State still has a long sweep of territory along Syria’s Euphrates valley and wide stretches of desert, despite recent losses to the SDF, the Syrian army and rebel groups. To the west of Raqqa, the Syrian army and its allies have advanced into Islamic State territory and on Friday reached SDF lines near the town of Tabqa, 40km (25 miles) from the city. The Syrian government has described the SDF’s war against Islamic State as “legitimate” and said its military priorities are further east, suggesting it does not plan to confront the group now.

On the other hand, Syrian government forces and their affiliated militias launched an attack on the rebels-held areas in eastern Qalamun, in the countryside of Damascus, Qasioun News reported on Thursday.

Furthermore, clashes broke out between the two sides, while regime forces attempted to advance into the areas of Tal Kawa, Be’r al-Kasf and Tal al-Dukhan, amid mutual rockets and artillery shelling. Meanwhile, US-led international coalition bombarded a military convoy belonging to the regime forces in al-Shahmi area, in the countryside of Damascus. Noteworthy, Syrian rebels managed to retake al-Zalf area in the Syrian Badiyah, in the countryside of As-Suwayda, yesterday, after battles with the government forces

 Syrian government warplanes struck Islamic State positions west of Raqqa city on the southern bank of the Euphrates river on Thursday, state media said.

“The air force destroyed positions and armored vehicles” in the western Raqqa countryside, about 70 km (44 miles) from the city, state-run news agency SANA said.

U.S.-backed militias have separately been pushing into the edges of Raqqa city in the first days of their attack to seize Islamic State’s base of operations in Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, launched an assault this week to take the northern city. The SDF has been closing in for months with the help of air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition. Islamic State militants have made enemies of all sides in the six-year Syrian conflict, losing territory to several separate military campaigns over the past year.

The Syrian army has made gains against Islamic State in the east of Aleppo province, bringing them to the provincial border with Raqqa which is largely under SDF control. The Russian-backed Syrian army and allied militias then crossed into Raqqa province this week from neighboring Aleppo.

The strikes on Thursday targeted areas near the provincial border, along a highway linking Raqqa to Aleppo and close to the Tabqa area the SDF captured from Islamic State in May.

The Syrian government described the Kurdish-led war against Islamic State as “legitimate” last month. Damascus also said its military priorities were Islamic State-held Deir al-Zor and the Badia region at the border with Jordan and Iraq, suggesting it does not intend to challenge the Raqqa campaign underway.