Syria Army Brigades Return to Golan Heights

Date: 21 July 2018 - 21:58

News ID: ۵۵۳۷۶

AMMAN (Dispatches) -- The Syrian army and its allies made advances in the southwest that bring it closer to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, state television and foreign-backed terrorists said.
The army has been pushing into the edges of Qunaitra province following an offensive last month that routed terrorists in adjoining Dara’a province who were once backed by Washington, Jordan and Persian Gulf states.
The offensive has restored Syrian government control over a swathe of the southwest, strategic territory at the borders with Jordan and Occupied Palestine.
The capture of a string of villages in a zone extending between the two southwestern provinces, announced by the army on Saturday, comes as a second group of terrorists and their relatives were expected to evacuate to northern Syria later in the day.
The army was consolidating its control of a series of commanding heights that overlook the Golan frontier that had allowed mainly Takfiri terrorists who once controlled it a strong position in the sensitive border area.
A deal negotiated by Russian officers with terrorists in the Qunaitra area last week allows safe passage to militants opposed to a return to state rule, while offering others who decide to stay Russian guarantees in their own localities.
It also allows the return of Syrian army brigades, that existed before the 2011 conflict, back to where they were stationed near a 1974 demilitarized zone with Palestinian territories near the occupied Golan Heights.
More than 2,500 people, among them terrorists from Takfiri groups who have rejected the deal, left on Friday headed to areas outside the government control in northern Syria.
Russia's Interfax news agency, citing the Russian military, confirmed the same number have been taken by bus to the Idlib zone. The Syrian army wants full control over Qunaitra province.
The occupying regime of Israel signaled it would not impede the Syrian army presence in Qunaitra as long as it steered away from the demilitarized zone, and said it will continue to escalate attacks along the Syrian frontier and elsewhere in Syria where it suspects resistance forces are stationed.
Other phases of the agreement, which includes the handover of weapons and the entry of Russian military police to some villages, were expected to be implemented in the coming days, a militant source said.
Tens of thousands of people have been sheltering at the area since the liberation campaign began a month ago.
Residents of the northern Syrian city of Raqqah, the former stronghold of the Daesh terror group, called on the government to return to the war-wracked city and provide civil services for the residents.
Last year, Raqqah fell to the U.S.-sponsored Kurdish militants who are refusing to hand over the control of Raqqah back to the Syrian government.
In an interview published by Ruptly on Saturday, Raqqah residents recalled times before the conflict and when services such as water and electricity were not scarce. They expressed hope that the government would return.
"We want the government to come back; we want them back to open schools and offer education to the students and offer all the services we want - like water and electricity. We have been deprived of many things for years now. As for Daesh, we don't want to see them again. They destroyed us," a Raqqah resident said.
"We need water because we have no water; we need aid because we receive no aid here. We need education for the children because they are not getting an education. As for the electricity, we hope that organizations will come to the country for electricity. We need family documents because most people are not registered,” said another resident.
Last year, Daesh lost its de facto capital of Raqqah after four months of fighting and bombings by the U.S. and its allies which left the city in total ruins.
Daesh-controlled territory in Syria's north and east has been reduced to just a handful isolated pockets.
The U.S. support for several militant groups in Syria, notably Kurds, has sparked fears that they might be trying to create a statelet outside the Syrian government's control.
The U.S. has been conducting airstrikes against what it claims are Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without the consent of the government or a United Nations mandate.