Member of the Syrian Coalition Nasr al-Hariri welcomed the significant gains FSA groups have made against ISIS across Syria in the past few days. FSA and rebel groups have expelled ISIS militants from around 25 towns and villages in Aleppo and Dara’a provinces and in al-Qalmoun area.
Hariri stressed that these gains clearly show that FSA and other mainstream rebel groups are the most effective force against ISIS, adding that the elimination of terrorism in the region requires drying up its resources, namely the Assad regime, its allied sectarian militia and its regional allies.
FSA battalions on Friday regained control of the town of Tseil in western rural Dara’a after fierce clashes with the ISIS-affiliated Shuhadaa al-Yarmouk Brigade. They earlier recaptured the towns of Adwan and Sahem in the same area, thus tightening the noose on Shuhadaa al-Yarmouk Brigade and the Muthanna Movement, both linked to ISIS.
Moataz al-Ghalib, a FSA commander in the Southern Front, said that the FSA and other mainstream rebel groups, most notably Ahrar al-Sham Movement, seek to encircle the area stretching between the ISIS-held towns of Ainzikir and Nafaa in western rural Dara’a.
Ghalib pointed out that the FSA and rebel fighters also seek to advance on the towns of Shajara and Jamla, which are ISIS strongholds in the area bordering the occupied Golan Heights.
Militants of Shuhadaa al-Yarmouk Brigade on Thursday executed 19 FSA fighters after militants of the extremist group sneaked into the FSA positions near the town of Adwan. ISIS militants then hanged the bodies of the FSA fighters on electricity posts and in public squares in the towns of Adwan and Tseil.
The FSA gains against ISIS in the south coincides with FSA and rebel groups’ progress in the north, where they recaptured the strategic town of Al-Raei in northern rural Aleppo from ISIS. Thus far ISIS has been expelled from over 20 towns and villages in northern rural Aleppo during the past week.
The FSA and rebel groups are planning to advance on the border area located between the towns of Azaz and Jarablous in northern rural Aleppo and expel ISIS militants from its stronghold west of the Euphrates River.
Moreover, the FSA and rebel groups on Friday recaptured many positions from ISIS in eastern Qalamoun in Rural Damascus, killing many ISIS militants and capturing weapons. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Anadolu Agency)
