The Free Syrian Army groups operating in the Syrian Desert announced they have shot down an Assad regime jet over the Um Ramim area northwest of Mahratha in the Syrian Desert and damaged a helicopter near Alseen airbase in rural Damascus. The Osoud Sharqiya and Ahmed Abdo Brigades FSA groups previously announced the launch of a counteroffensive dubbed “The Land is Ours” to repel regime attacks on the FSA positions in the Syrian Desert.
The FSA groups on Tuesday said they have recaptured the Umm Ramim area from regime forces, adding that they have destroyed two tanks and a bulldozer belonging to regime forces. At least 35 pro-regime militants have been killed in the FSA counteroffensive in Syrian Desert, the FSA groups said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Coalition stressed that areas currently being targeted by the Assad regime and the Russian air force in the Syrian Desert are completely under the control of the Free Syrian Army.
In a press release issued on Monday, the Coalition said the FSA groups liberated these areas from the ISIS extremist group organization following offensives launched in early 2017 across eastern rural Swaidaa and the Syrian Desert, including Tal Makhoul hill and the “Scientific Research Platoon.”
The Coalition condemned any attacks on or attempts to advance in those areas under the pretext of fighting ISIS as it warned brokers of the agreement of the dire consequences of using the agreement to justify attacks on the FSA groups.
The Coalition stressed the need to force the Assad regime to stop its attacks and withdraw its forces immediately from the areas they have advanced onto since the agreement went into force on Sunday, July 9.
The Assad regime forces, backed by Russia aerial cover, are trying to advance in the southern Syrian Desert, claiming the area is not covered by the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and Russia. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
