“The UN and its agencies concerned with cultural heritage preservation should put efforts to support the Syrian government in the restoration of the ancient city of Palmyra being a cultural icon classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” President Assad said in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday.
The Syrian president, meantime, appreciated the UN secretary general for voicing his pleasure in Syrian army’s recapturing Palmyra city.
“This could be the most appropriate moment to accelerate the collective war against terrorism,” President Assad said.
On Sunday, Ban welcomed the liberation of Palmyra from the terrorists and called for its preservation for future generations.
In a news conference in Jordan, the UN secretary general said he was “encouraged that the UNESCO world heritage site is out of extremist hands and that the Syrian government is now able to preserve and protect this human common cultural asset”.
On Sunday, the Syrian army and popular forces in a major conquest seized back Palmyra in the Eastern part of Homs province after several days of tough battle with the ISIL terrorists.
The Syrian government troops are now in full control of Palmyra city.
Palmyra was under ISIL control from May 2015. The terrorist group has since destroyed part of the city, which is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site.
The army units took full control of the Southern Farms and Height 861 in the surrounding area of Quaryatayn town in Homs province.
Scores of militants were killed and wounded in heavy clashes with the Syrian government troops near Quaryatayn.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian army seized back a strategic height near the town of Quaryatayn.
The army units took full control of Hazm al-Gharbiat height by moving from Jabil mountain towards Hazm al-Awsat mountains in the Western part of Quaryatayn town.
The Syrian army inflicted heavy losses on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists and destroyed their armored vehicle killing all its crew members.
In a relevant development on Monday, the Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement started fresh military operations against the terrorists’ military positions Quaryatayn town in Homs province, and seized control of a strategic hill in the region in the first phase of the operation.
The army units attacked the terrorists’ positions in Quaryatayn.
The Syrian army and resistance forces seized back Mantar al-Ramliya Hill in Taloul al-Soud area in the Western part of Quaryatayn town early in the first phase of their massive operations.
The Syrian army started its fresh operations after it cut the terrorists’ supply routes to the ancient city of Palmyra which is also located in Eastern Homs.
Meantime, the Syrian army’s artillery units heavily pounded the terrorists’ positions in Quaryatayn.
At least seven terrorists, including a senior Al-Nusra Front commander, were killed in fierce fighting in Aleppo province, an informed source announced.
“In the morning, a group of militants fired mortars and heavy weapons at several villages in the vicinity of the towns of Minaq and A’zaz and attacked the Kurdish militia there; fierce fighting is underway there,” the source added.
He reiterated that the Kurdish fighters are fighting two other terrorist groups in Afrin canton located in Syria’s Aleppo province.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) engaged in heavy fighting with the ISIL terrorists in the Northern part of Aleppo province and inflicted a heavy death toll on the militants.
The clashes erupted between the Kurdish fighters and the terrorists in Hajiz al-Shat and Villa Ghazi near the town of Azaz in the Northern Aleppo which claimed the lives of several terrorists and damaged their military hardware.
Also on March 26, the Kurdish forces thwarted an attempt by the Takfiri terrorists to capture Sheikh al-Maqsoud district in the city of Aleppo.
The Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham terrorists tried to take control of Sheikh al-Maqsoud area, but they were forced to retreat by the Kurdish fighters.
The Takfiri terrorists sustained heavy casualties and losses in tough battle with the Kurdish forces.
Most parts of Aleppo province have been purged of terrorists who are now engaged in increasing internal clashes in the limited stretches of lands that are still under their control.
Earlier in Aleppo province, the Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa terrorist groups operating in the Northern province of Aleppo engaged in fierce clashes with each other after the death of a senior ISIL ringleader.
The Syrian government troops seized back Tabara al-Diba region in Eastern Hama.
Scores of ISIL terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battle with the Syrian army.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the Syrian army seized back more regions near the strategic city of Salamiyah.
The army units are now in full control of several key regions and heights near Salamiyah town.
Salamiyah is of strategic importance because it is only 30 kilometers from Hama city and it is located to the North of Homs city.
Meantime, the Russian fighter jets pounded the ISIL’s positions in the Eastern part of Aqareb to the North of Salamiyah.
In a relevant development on March 19, the Syrian army and its popular allies pushed back the al-Nusra terrorists in areas near Salamiyah and killed a number of militants.
“The al-Nusra militants in an attempt to capture the key points of al-Rabi’ah near Tal al-Dara village, on the Western outskirt of Salamiyah, attacked the army troop’s positions in the region, but the army fended off the attack after killing several terrorists,” the source said.
The source added that the army forces destroyed several militants’ heavily-armed pick-up trucks and defused some explosive devices left by the militants in the region.
The SDF and YPG forces are now on the verge of seizing back al-Maleha village which is located 30 kilometers to the Southwest of al-Shadadi region in Hasaka province.
The Kurdish forces are less than 4 kilometers from al-Maleha which is located between Abu Khashb in Raqqa province and Hasaka city.
Informed military sources said that vast areas in Hasaka, Deir Ezzur and Raqqa provinces are scenes of bloody clashes between Kurdish forces and the ISIL terrorists.
Kurdish parties are already in control of three administrations in Syria’s North near the Turkish border. The regions are known as Afrin and Kobani, both in Aleppo Province, as well as Jazira in Hasaka Province.
Syria has been grappling with a foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. More than 470,000 people have been killed in the turmoil, according to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research.
The second team of Russian bomb disposal experts headed to Syria to help defuse mines planted by ISIL terrorists in Palmyra before they were defeated by the army who established control over the city few days ago, Russian-language media reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry dispatched its first mine clearance team to Syria on Tuesday.
Russian Zvezda TV channel reported Tuesday that the expert team from the International Mine Action Center of the Russian Armed Forces have taken off from Chkalovsky Airport heading to Syria on board a military aircraft.
The aircraft is also carrying on board robots and equipment to remove mines and explosives, the TV added.
In a relevant development on Monday, a Russian military source announced that a total of 100 Russian military engineers and dog trainers will be sent to Syria to help demine Palmyra.
The announcement of the Russian participation in the demining process along with the Syrian army was made by the Russian General on Monday.
Also on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his country’s readiness to send demining experts to Syria to help defuse the bombs and sweeping the mines laid by the ISIL in Palmyra before fleeing the ancient city on Sunday.
“The Russian Defense Ministry has received an order to provide maximum support to the Syrian side in demining the liberated territories taking into account their significance for the world culture,” Putin said in a telephone conversation with Head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Irina Bokova.
President Putin said that the Russian Defense Ministry had been instructed to provide maximum support to Syria in demining Palmyra.
The Russian president, meantime, informed Bokova of his readiness to provide immediate support and expertise of his country to a UNESCO expert mission to Palmyra as soon as the security situation would allow.
The army units destroyed the ISIL’s military hardware, including machinegun-equipped and armored vehicles, in the Eastern part of the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur).
The Syrian air raids also resulted in destroying fortifications of the ISIL in the Southern part of al-Tafha village near Jebb al-Jarrah area, some 80 Km to the East of Homs city.
Scores of the ISIL terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battle with the Syrian government forces.
Meantime, in the Southern side of Homs countryside, the Syrian air force destroyed the ISIL’s vehicles in the village of al-Basiri and in the vicinity of the town of al-Quaryatayn, some 85 km from Homs city.
The Russian fighter jets hit hard the ISIL over a vast area of a highway linking Iraq’s Anbar province to the Syrian town of al-Quaryatayn in Homs.
The ISIL terrorists sustained heavy losses in the Russian airstrikes on their positions on Anbar-Quaryatayn highway.
“The Russian air force has conducted over 30 airstrikes above Quaryatayn over the last 12 hours; these attacks have proven to be detrimental to the remaining ISIL terrorists inside the town because they are unable to evade the strikes,” a Syrian army officer said on Tuesday.
In a relevant development on Monday, the Russian warplanes destroyed an important fuel depot in the Quaryatayn countryside.
They have now shifted their attention to ISIL’s main supply route from Iraq to the Southeastern part of Homs.
At least 10 Al-Nusra Front terrorists were executed by the ISIL in al-Qalamoun region in Damascus countryside.
In a relevant development on Tuesday, the infighting between the al-Nusra Front and the ISIL terrorists intensified in Damascus countryside.
One day after bloody clashes between the ISIL and the al-Nusra Front terrorists in Western Qalamoun, the Takfiri terrorists in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp also engaged in tough battle, field sources revealed.
Also on Monday, at least 10 Al-Nusra Front and 8 ISIL terrorists were killed in tough infighting in Jaroud al-Jarajir area in al-Qalamoun region.
Also on Sunday, Field sources in Damascus province revealed intense infighting between the al-Nusra Front and ISIL terrorists in al-Qalamoun region resulted in death of a senior ISIL commander.
Abu Azam, an ISIL field commander, and his men were killed in Jaroud al-Jarajir area in Al-Qalamoun.
The al-Nusra Front captured several ISIL-controlled military positions in these clashes.
Almost the entire range of extremist and terrorist groups are supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, with their key commanders and leaders being Saudi nationals. ISIL, Al-Nusra and other extremist groups pursue the same line of ideology exercised and promoted by Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism. Hundreds of Saudi clerics are among the ranks of ISIL and Al-Nusra to mentor the militants.
Wahhabism is now the only source of the textbooks taught at schools in the self-declared capital of the ISIL terrorist group, Raqqa, in Northeastern Syria resembling the texts and lessons taught to schoolgoers in Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabi ideology, an extremist version of Sunni Islam that is promoted almost only in Saudi Arabia, sees all other faiths – from other interpretations of Sunni Islam to Shiism, Christianity and Judaism – as blasphemy, meaning that their followers should be decapitated as nonbelievers.
“The military gains achieved by the Syrian army and the popular is of a great military and political significance which will open the doors for moving eastward and northward towards the Deir Ezzur and Raqqa provinces,” the Arabic-language media outlets quoted al-Zoubi as saying on Wednesday.
He reiterated that the link between the military operation in Palmyra and continuing it towards Deir Ezzur and Raqqa has nothing to do with the cessation of hostilities.
“No one could ask the Syrian army to stop its fight against ISIL terrorist organization,” al-Zoubi said.
The Syrian information minister expressed doubt about the seriousness of the US-led international anti-ISIL, and said, “The coalition’s fight has not yielded any results on the ground.”
On Sunday, the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces confirmed that Palmyra and the mountains and hills overlooking it have now come under the army’s full control.
“Security and stability has been restored to Palmyra following a series of precise and effective military operations that were carried out by the army units with the help of the popular defense groups, being backed by the Syrian and Russian Air Forces,” the Army Command said in a statement.
The ISIL terrorist organization has been dealt quite a heavy blow with army’s capture of Palmyra, said the Army Command, adding that the achievement has severely damaged the terrorists’ morale and pressed the start button for the organization’s collapse and defeat.
“This achievement proves that our brave army, aided by the friends, is the only effective force capable of fighting terrorism and eradicating it,” the statement said.
The Army Command clarified that the importance of today’s achievement stems from the significant strategic location of Palmyra city being a major link connecting the Central, Southern, Eastern and Northern areas, and from the historical and tourist status of the city as it stands witness to one of the most ancient human civilizations ever.
With Palmyra city under control, military operations against ISIL will expand starting from this springboard towards various axes and directions, on top being Deir Ezzur and Raqqa, especially that this victory helps in further tightening the noose around ISIL terrorists and cutting off their supply routes in areas under their control until having these areas fully freed, the statement explained.
The statement made it clear that the army, together with the popular defense groups and the Russian and Syrian Air Forces, will go ahead with military operations against ISIL and al-Nusra Front and other terrorist organizations.
The army units are in full control of several more key areas in Hama province.
Scores of Takfiri terrorists were killed and wounded in fierce clashes with the Syrian army and popular forces.
The Syrian army also continued its advances in other key provinces across Syria.
Hama
The Syrian army seized back more regions near the strategic city of Salamiyah.
The army units are now in full control of several key regions and heights near Salamiyah town.
Salamiyah is of strategic importance because it is only 30 kilometers from Hama city and it is located to the North of Homs city.
Meantime, the Russian fighter jets pounded the ISIL’s positions in the Eastern part of Aqareb to the North of Salamiyah.
The Syrian army pounded and destroyed the military positions of Al-Nusra Front terrorists in the Northwestern part of Hama province on Tuesday.
The Al-Nusra Front’s military positions in al-Mansoura village in Northwestern Hama were razed down by the army units, inflicting heavy losses on the terrorists.
The Syrian army also destroyed the terrorists’ mortar launching-pads in al-Ghab valley in the Western neighborhood of al-Mansoura village.
Scores of terrorists were killed and injured in tough battle with the Syrian army in the surrounding areas of al-Mansoura village.
The Syrian army and popular forces continued their advances in the Eastern part of Hama province, inflicting heavy losses on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists.
Scores of the ISIL terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battle with the Syrian government forces in the vicinity of Abu Habilat village in Hama province.
The Syrian army also destroyed the military equipment and vehicles of the ISIL terrorists in Eastern Hama.
Homs
The Russian fighter jets hit hard the ISIL over a vast area of a highway linking Iraq’s Anbar province to the Syrian town of al-Quaryatayn in Homs.
The ISIL terrorists sustained heavy losses in the Russian airstrikes on their positions on Anbar-Quaryatayn highway.
“The Russian air force has conducted over 30 airstrikes above Quaryatayn over the last 12 hours; these attacks have proven to be detrimental to the remaining ISIL terrorists inside the town because they are unable to evade the strikes,” a Syrian army officer said on Tuesday.
The Syrian army and popular forces continued their advances Homs province, and seized back a strategic height near the town of Quaryatayn.
The army units took full control of Hazm al-Gharbiat height by moving from Jabil mountain towards Hazm al-Awsat mountains in the Western part of Quaryatayn town.
The Syrian army inflicted heavy losses on the ISIL Takfiri terrorists and destroyed their armored vehicle killing all its crew members.
Informed military sources confirmed the Syrian army’s considerable advances in Eastern Homs province by seizing back strategic areas.
The army units are now in full control of al-Raqema and Zahr al-Kharnoubi hills which are located about 85 kilometers to the Southeast of the city of Homs, a military source said.
Meantime, the Syrian army destroyed the ISIL’s military positions and gathering centers in Mantar al-Ramliya region, killing and wounding scores of Takfiri terrorists in fierce clashes.
The ISIL terrorists’ supply routes were also razed down by the Syrian government troops in Homs province.
The Syrian army’s helicopters hit hard ISIL’s military positions in the town of al-Quaryatayn in the Eastern part of Homs province, killing and injuring scores of the Takfiri terrorists.
The military choppers conducted intensive attacks on ISIL’s military positions in Quaryatayn town.
The ISIL sustained heavy losses and casualties in the Syrian army’s helicopters’ attacks on their positions.
Deir Ezzur
The Syrian army and popular forces continued their advances in two strategic regions in Deir Ezzur province in Eastern Syria, killing and wounding scores of the ISIL terrorists.
The army units attacked the ISIL’s military positions in the towns of al-Mayadeen and al-Ashara in Deir Ezzur province.
The Syrian government troops killed at least four ISIL terrorists in Tebbiya region in al-Mayadeen town in the Southeastern part of Deir Ezzur.
The army units also hit hard the ISIL in al-Ashara town also located in the Southeastern part of Deir Ezzur. At least five ISIL terrorists, including three Saudi nationals, were killed in heavy clashes with the Syrian army.
Damascus
Infighting between the al-Nusra Front and the ISIL terrorists in Damascus countryside intensified on Tuesday.
One day after bloody clashes between the ISIL and the al-Nusra Front terrorists in Western Qalamoun, the Takfiri terrorists in the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp also engaged in tough battle, field sources revealed.
In a relevant development on Monday, at least 10 Al-Nusra Front and 8 ISIL terrorists were killed in tough infighting in Jaroud al-Jarajir area in al-Qalamoun region.
Aleppo
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) engaged in heavy fighting with the ISIL terrorists in the Northern part of Aleppo province and inflicted a heavy death toll on the militants.
The clashes erupted between the Kurdish fighters and the terrorists in Hajiz al-Shat and Villa Ghazi near the town of Azaz in the Northern Aleppo which claimed the lives of several terrorists and damaged their military hardware.
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