ON ACTIVITIES OF FTO IN SYRIA
Throughout October, armed clashes were noted in a number of governorates of the country.
On October 3, it was announced that the Russian Aerospace Forces had destroyed the facilities of terrorists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS, banned in the Russian Federation) in the Idlib de-escalation zone, preventing terrorist attacks on the infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces and the Syrian government forces. In addition, 13 militants were eliminated. The underground shelters of illegal armed formations in the areas of the settlements of Ruaiha and Msibin were targeted. Among those eliminated were field commanders Abu Yousef Al-Shami and Khaled al-Yousef (Abu Omar).
On October 5, the US military carried out an operation near the border town of El Qamishli in Hasakah Governorate to eliminate a Daesh terrorist who was smuggling weapons and transferring militants to the region. This was reported by the Central Command of the US Armed Forces (CENTCOM). The report noted that the eliminated Rakkan terrorist Wahid al-Shammari was “a Daesh member known for smuggling weapons and airlifting fighters to support Daesh activities.” “During the operation, this man, who was the target, was killed and one of his accomplices was wounded. Two more accomplices were detained by US forces. No US military was injured or killed during the operation, and no civilians were injured or killed,” CENTCOM said. For the first time since 2011 an operation of this kind was carried out in the territory controlled by Damascus.
On the evening of October 6, a US airstrike in northern Syria eliminated two high-ranking representatives of Daesh (banned in Russia), the US Central Command reported. As follows from the statement, the deputy leader of Daesh in Syria, Abu Hashum al-Umawi, and the main Daesh “jailer”, Abu Muad al-Qahtani, were eliminated.
On 10 October, a prominent Daesh field commander was killed in Tel Abyad by a drone of unknown belonging. At the time of the strike, he was riding a moped. Tel Abyad is under the control of the Turkish military and pro-Turkish groups.
On October 12, pro-Turkish units attacked a convoy of HTS militants in the north of Aleppo Governorate. According to the Al Mayadeen TV channel, the Hamza Brigade militants from the Syrian Free Army ambushed the enemy in the Afrin region; as a result, there were killed and wounded among the HTS militants. Clashes between the parties broke out earlier in the city of Al-Bab (40 km from Aleppo), located in the security zone created by Ankara in 2017 in northern Syria. According to opposition sources, as a result, at least 13 people were killed and dozens of people were injured. The victims included civilians. The reason for another strife was a split in the ranks of Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group; some of its militants had previously joined the pro-Turkish forces, while others went with the HTS. During the clashes that broke out, the parties tried to expand their areas of control over the northern border areas.
On October 13, at least 18 people were killed and 27 others were injured in an explosion on a military bus in the suburbs of the Syrian capital in Damascus Governorate. This was reported by the SANA news agency, citing a source in the Syrian Armed Forces. According to them, an explosive device was planted in the bus in advance. The army called it a terrorist attack. The wounded soldiers were taken to a local hospital.
On October 14, several servicemen of the Turkish Armed Forces were killed during shelling in the area of the Syrian city of Afrin (Aleppo Governorate), which is controlled by pro-Turkish forces. This was reported by the Al Mayadeen TV channel. According to the channel, “several Turkish soldiers were killed as a result of a shelling on the territory of a base they controlled near Afrin during a cross-fire between armed groups”, and some were injured. The exact number of dead and injured servicemen was not provided.
On the same day, it became known that the Syrian security forces during a special operation in the province of Deraa eliminated two Daesh field commanders. This was reported by the agency SANA. According to their source in law enforcement structures of the Arab Republic, security officials, with the support of the army and civilian groups, carried out a special operation against Daesh militants in the city of Jasem in the northwest of Deraa. During the fighting, many terrorists were eliminated and injured. In particular, security forces eliminated two Daesh field commanders, namely Ayyub Fadel Jabawi and Ayham Faisal al-Khalki.
On October 16, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation reported that the Aerospace Forces launched an air strike on a militant training camp northeast of Katma settlement and the command post of the illegal armed groups to the west of Ahaz settlement. As a result, up to 100 militants were destroyed.
On October 17, pro-Turkish groups fought fierce battles with HTS militants in the north of Aleppo Governorate. According to the Al-Mayadeen TV channel, clashes between the parties resumed after the breakdown of the ceasefire reached with the assistance of the Turkish military. The jihadists attacked the positions of the 3rd Corps of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), which held defenses south of the border town of A’zaz. They managed to capture the settlement of Kfar Jinnah, which opened the way for the HTS fighters to attack Jerablus and Al Bab, located in the security zone created by Ankara in 2017 in northern Syria. Previously, the jihadists took control of the peak of Al-Khalidiya and Annab village, which allowed them to keep the border area under fire. As a result of the fighting on both sides, up to 60 militants were eliminated.
On October 20, it was announced that five militant attacks had been recorded since early October from US-occupied Al-Tanf territory in eastern Homs Governorate. This was announced by deputy head of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria Andrey Boldyrev. “Since the beginning of this month, five attacks by militants from US-occupied territory on Syrian government forces have been recorded. In total, since October 1, as a result of provocations by terrorists, one Syrian soldier has died, and six Syrian soldiers have been wounded,” he said.
On October 30, Syrian government forces stopped an attempt to break out of the US-controlled al-Tanf zone. On the morning of the same day, west of the Jebel al-Ghurab mountain (65 km southeast of Palmyra), a patrol of the SAR armed forces discovered an armed group of militants comprising nine people who were trying to secretly leave the Al-Tanf zone. As a patrol of SAR government troops approached, the militants opened fire from small arms and fled to the territory controlled by the so-called US-led International Anti-Terrorist Coalition.