As a result the Russians and the Iranians reached a strategic decision: Make any effort necessary to preserve Assad’s seat of power, so that Syria may act as a barrier, and prevent the spread of ISIS and Islamist backed militias into the former Soviet Islamic republics, YnetNews.com reports.
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The Daesh militant group on Tuesday wrested control of several parts of the Al-Qadam district of Damascus from opposition forces, local sources have told Anadolu Agency.
A Syrian government official was quoted by AFP as welcoming the clashes between rebels and the Islamic State group in Qadam.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has battled Syrian rebel forces in a southern district of Damascus, bringing ISIL fighters within about 5km of the centre of the capital.
Since rebels pushed back ISIL from the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta previous year, ISIL has used Al-Hajar Al-Aswad as a base for attacks on the capital. Earlier this year, IS fighters entered the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, east of Qadam, and control large parts of it. “The difficulty for coalition air strikes is to not hit civilians and so they are limited in what they can do”, she said.
ISIS terrorists have killed people for alleged sorcery, insulting God, sodomy, adultery, banditry, joining and cooperating with the Sunni tribal militias’ awakening movement, cooperating with the “crusader” U.S.-led coalition, mischief on earth, and cooperating with the Assad regime, notes the Observatory.
In June, the Observatory said Syrian rebels captured parts of the military airbase.
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“Some estimates say there are about 30,000 of these fighters who embed themselves in towns and cities”. In the northwest province of Idlib, the powerful Army of Conquest alliance edged closer to Fuaa, one of two remaining regime-held villages in the province.
