Backed by local defense forces and Syrian and Russian air forces, the army has carried out successful battles against terrorist groups in several Syrian provinces, namely the countryside of the capital Damascus, southern provinces of Daraa and Swaida, central provinces of Homs and Hama as well as the northern provinces of Latakia and Aleppo, a statement said.
Advertisement
Bicyclists have free rein as Milan bans private cars
Under the edict, the stoves need to be fitted with special pollution filters before they are allowed back into action. In Rome, cars with odd-numbered plates have been banned for nine hours on Monday.
An airstrike near the Syrian capital on Friday killed top rebel commander Zahran Allouch, the head of one of the most powerful Saudi-backed insurgent groups fighting against President Bashar Assad’s government near the seat of his power Damascus, opposition activists said.
Israeli soldiers wounded in stabbing attacks, 2 Palestinian assailants killed
Israel says 88 of them were attacking or attempting to attack Israelis while the rest died in clashes with Israeli troops. Two Palestinians were killed after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Alloush, 44, was the commander of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), the predominant opposition faction in the Eastern Ghouta rebel bastion east of Damascus.
Christmas security warning cautions Westerners in Beijing
In August, a lone attacker fatally stabbed a Chinese woman there and injured a French man in the stabbing as well. Police commonly issue a yellow alert during holiday periods.
Militants and their families were due to be bussed to areas under the control of their respective groups, under a deal between rebels and the Syrian government. He had led rebel operations against pro-Assad army in Damascus and its countryside for almost three years after deserting the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and establishing his own rebel group.
Those negotiations ended with little progress, and momentum for a peace deal evaporated while the conflict became more complex with the addition of Islamic State militants seizing large portions of eastern Syria.
The explosion, which took place late Saturday, was the latest blow to the rebels shortly after the assassination the previous day of a powerful rebel leader on the outskirts of Damascus.
The Islam Army was the main rebel group responsible for the daily mortar attacks against civilian areas inside Damascus.
The pullout, supposed to start on Saturday, was to involve mainly militants from the Islamic State group who earlier this year overran the Yarmouk area, which is home to a Palestinian refugee camp and has been hotly contested and fought-over in the war, and two adjacent neighborhoods.
The Syrian military claimed responsibility for the airstrike that killed Alloush, although many among the opposition blamed Russian Federation, which has been bombing Islamic State targets and other insurgent groups since late September.
Speaking to ARA News in Damascus, media activist Zuher al-Ghoutani said that the bombardment of the regime’s security headquarters in Joubar comes in response to the killing of Alloush.
Abu Hammam al-Buwaydani was elected to replace Alloush just hours after his death, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He denies holding them although they were kidnapped from an area under Army of Islam control.
The killing of Syrian rebel chief Zahran Alloush fiercely opposed to both the regime and the Islamic State group has eliminated a key bulwark against the jihadists and could derail UN-brokered peace talks analysts say.
But critics accused him of sectarian politics and brutal tactics similar to that of the Islamic State group.
Advertisement
The Army of Islam took part earlier this month in an opposition meeting held in Saudi Arabia to agree on an opposition delegation that would negotiate with government representatives in planned peace talks. The AP could not immediately confirm the claim.
