Syria Regime Reroutes Forces from Idlib to Badia Desert in Clampdown on ISIS

Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
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Syria Regime Reroutes Forces from Idlib to Badia Desert in Clampdown on ISIS

Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Syrians on a motorbike drive past the carcass of a charred car in Idlib on June 10, 2021. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

Syrian regime forces renewed shelling the southern parts of the northwestern governorate of Idlib, with reports citing fighters retreating from contact lines there to the Badia desert to fight ISIS with support from the Russian air force.

“On Thursday morning, rocket and artillery shells targeted areas in Ihsim, Al-Bara, Ibilin, Balshon, Jawsaf, Abdeta, Arnaba, Al-Fatirah Fleifel, Benin, and Sifwuhun in the southern Idlib countryside,” local sources told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Shelling on Abdeta resulted in the death of two combatants from the Turkey-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) factions.

Many injuries were also reported as witnessed said warplanes and reconnaissance aircraft flew over Zawiya Mountain, a highland region in Idlib.

Regime forces also targeted and destroyed a civilian car with a guided missile east of Al-Ziyadiya region in Al-Ghab Plain.

SOHR sources indicated that several regime rocket shells hit the vicinity of a Turkish outpost in the village of Sarjah at the base of Zawiya Mountain.

Turkish forces, accompanied by the Syrian opposition factions named “Al-Fateh al-Mubeen,” responded to the attack by targeting regime areas with dozens of rocket and artillery shells in Kafrnabel and other regions of the southern and eastern Idlib countryside.

Military sites held by regime forces and supporting militias near contact lines with armed Syrian opposition factions south of Idlib are witnessing withdrawal of heavy machinery and combatants, and their deployment in the Badia desert.

“Over the past two days, large numbers of regime forces were seen withdrawing, in addition to several military vehicles,” said Idlib-based activist Ahmed Qassem.

Qassem added that the forces redeployed along with vehicles equipped with medium and heavy machine guns.

According to a Syrian opposition source, three military regime columns were transported from areas near Maarat al-Numan and Saraqib, southeast of Idlib.

They were moved to the Salamiyah area, east of Hama governorate, the source revealed, adding that the columns include convoys with dozens of fighters onboard, tank carriers, and military vehicles.



US Military Says It Strikes Iran-Backed Militia Facility in Syria

A convoy of US military vehicles near Qamishli, Syria, February 2020. (SANA/via Reuters)
A convoy of US military vehicles near Qamishli, Syria, February 2020. (SANA/via Reuters)
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US Military Says It Strikes Iran-Backed Militia Facility in Syria

A convoy of US military vehicles near Qamishli, Syria, February 2020. (SANA/via Reuters)
A convoy of US military vehicles near Qamishli, Syria, February 2020. (SANA/via Reuters)

US forces conducted strikes in Syria against Iranian-aligned militia groups for a second day in a row Tuesday in response to further attacks on US personnel, US Central Command said late Tuesday.

In the latest retaliatory strikes, US forces hit a weapons storage and logistics facility after militia groups launched a rocket attack on US personnel at Patrol Base Shaddadi in Eastern Syria.

Earlier Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that over the weekend the militias had also targeted US personnel with a drone attack and indirect fires at another base, Green Village, where US troops are operating — which prompted the US to strike nine militia targets on Monday in self-defense.

There are about 900 US troops deployed in Syria. No US troops were injured in either attack.