Syrian Army Shells Southern Damascus Area

Date: 17 April 2018 - 21:05

News ID: ۵۱۸۹۵

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – The Syrian army has started shelling a terrorist-held area south of the capital, Damascus, ahead of a major counter-terrorism operation there, says a pro-Damascus commander.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the commander said the shelling took place on Tuesday morning prior to the planned military campaign that would target the Daesh and the Nusra Front terrorist groups in the Palestinian Yarmouk camp and the nearby al-Hajar al-Aswad area.
The Syrian government is also expected to retake another terrorist enclave near the village of Beit Sahm, said the commander, adding, however, that this will take place through a deal between the government and the terrorists under which they would be transferred to the northwestern Idlib Province.
"The lists of militants who will go on the buses towards Idlib are being gathered,” the commander noted.
In another development, Syrian air defenses have shot down missile attacks on the Shayrat airbase in the central province of Homs and the Dumair military airport in Damascus.
According to Syria's official SANA news agency early on Tuesday, all the missiles were intercepted before they could reach their target in Homs.
"Syrian air defense shot down missiles that entered its airspace over Homs," said the report.
Lebanon's Al Mayadeen broadcaster also reported that Syrian air defenses had intercepted three missiles aimed at Dumair military airport north east of Damascus.
The source of the missiles is still unknown.
The U.S. and the Zionist regime have denied being behind that attack.
"There is no U.S. military activity in that area at this time," Eric Pahond, a Pentagon spokesman said. "We do not have additional details to provide."
An Israeli spokesman also said that "I'm not aware of such an incident."
Shayrat airbase was targeted last year in a U.S. cruise missile attack in response to an alleged chemical attack that killed at least 70 people, including children on the terrorist-held town of Khan Shaykhun.
Meanwhile, Russia says it has "irrefutable” evidence that a recent suspected chemical attack in the Damascus suburb town of Douma, which was used as a pretext for missile strikes against Syria, was a "false flag” operation orchestrated by British spy services.
Russia’s Representative at the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin made the remarks during a meeting of the organization’s executive council in The Hague.
"We have not just a ‘high level of confidence,’ as our Western partners uniformly put it; we have irrefutable proof that there was no chemical attack in Douma on April 7,” Shulgin said, describing the incident as a "pre-planned false flag attack by the British security services, which could have also been aided by their allies in Washington.”
The Western countries rushed to blame the Douma incident on the Syrian government, but Damascus strongly rejected the accusation as fabrications meant to halt the advance made by pro-government forces against terrorists.
Syria has rejected any involvement in the suspected attack. It surrendered its chemical stockpile in 2013 to a mission led by the OPCW and the UN.
On April 14, the U.S., Britain and France launched a coordinated missile attack against sites and research facilities near Damascus and Homs with the purported goal of paralyzing the Syrian government’s capability to produce chemicals.