العربي الديمقراطي The Latest From The Arab World
مقالات مشابهة
On Thursday, Syrian government forces retook the town of Mleiha on the outskirts of Damascus after months of battle against rebel forces. Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights backed up the report.
“The army, with the cooperation of the National Defense Forces (militia), has accomplished its mission of restoring stability and security to Mleiha”, the army command in its statement. It also added that soldiers carried out “a series of crucial operations killing a large number of takfiri mercenaries who had barricaded themselves in the town”.
“This is a tough blow to the takfiri terrorists who have begun to fall in the face of the successive blows dealt to them by the army”, it said. The army also said that Mleiha will now be a springboard for their bid to regain territory in Eastern Ghouta, an important rebel stronghold outside Damascus which has for long been in the government’s sights.
State television broadcast footage live from the town, showing damaged streets, homes and public property like telephone lines.
The town of Mleiha is to the southeast of Damascus and has been an important flashpoint in fighting around the city. Government soldiers, sometimes backed by Hezbollah troops, have been batting in the town since April. The region has been under siege for over a year and has been under bombardment almost constantly by government forces.
General Hussein Isaac, the chief of Syrian air defense forces, was killed in the area in May.
“Taking back Mleiha would allow the regime to protect parts of Damascus from rebel rocket fire on the capital.It is also the gateway to Eastern Ghouta”, Rami Abdel Rahman, the Director of the Observatory, said.
The Syrian government retains control over Damascus while rebels have control over several bases around the capital, from where they regularly launch air strikes.