Daesh executes 40 civilians in northern Syrian town: Report

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group has reportedly executed more than three dozen civilians in Syria’s strategic northern province of Aleppo as they continue to lose ground in battles against government forces.

The media bureau of Syria’s Joint Operations Command announced in a statement on Saturday that Daesh extremists had rounded up 40 civilians in the town of al-Bab, located some 40 kilometers northeast of Aleppo, and then killed them all.

The killings came as fierce clashes continue unabated between Turkish-backed militants and Daesh Takfiris on the fringes of al-Bab.

Turkish artillery units also lobbed a barrage of projectiles at Daesh outposts inside and outside of the border town.

On August 24, 2016, the Turkish Air Force and special ground forces kicked off Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria in a declared bid to support the Free Syrian Army militants and rid the border area of Daesh terrorists and fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD).

The offensive was launched in coordination with the US-led military coalition, which has purportedly been fighting Daesh extremists since 2014.

The incursion was the first major Turkish military intervention in Syria, which drew strong condemnation from the Syrian government for violating the Arab country’s sovereignty.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on November 29, 2016 that the Turkish army had marched into Syria to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, whom he accused of terrorism and causing the deaths of thousands.

The remarks caused consternation in the Kremlin, with Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, demanding that Erdogan clarify anti-Assad goals in Syria.

The Turkish leader backtracked on the comments two days later, asserting that the offensives there were aimed only at terrorists.

Late on Friday, Syrian army forces managed to retake Abu Taltal village near the town of al-Bab after heavy skirmishes with foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants there.

Syrian soldiers and allied forces launched an operation against Daesh positions near al-Tharda region of the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr on Saturday, killing scores of the terrorists in the process.

Syrian Air Force fighter jets also carried out a string of strikes against Daesh terrorists in the al-Makabbat area of the same Syrian province, killing six terrorists and injuring another seven. A motorcycle belonging to the terrorists was destroyed in the aerial attacks as well.

Additionally, Syrian aircraft targeted Daesh gatherings in the al- Hamidiyah district of Dayr al-Zawr city, situated about 420 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus, and the outskirts of a military airport, killing and injuring many of the terrorists and destroying vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns.

Syrian troopers and fighters from pro-government popular defense groups also thwarted separate infiltration attempts by Daesh from al-Hweiqa and al-Husseiniya villages into Dayr al-Zawr city, killing most of the terrorists.

Source: Press TV

In Syria: Syrian army besieges Daesh- held town of Bab

Syrian government troops and their allied forces have laid siege to the town of al-Bab, the largest stronghold of Daesh terrorists in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, according to a pro-opposition monitoring group.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday that Syrian forces had completely surrounded the town.

The Britain-based group added that the advance followed the army’s capture of Awishyah hill, which is several hundred meters away from a road that links al-Bab to Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr provinces.

The capture of the hill came hours after Syrian troops took control of the village of Awishyah, it said.

The latest advance means government forces have now encircled the terrorists in the towns of al-Bab, Bizaah, Qabasin and Tedif.

In January, the monitoring group reported that Daesh terrorists had transferred their families out of al-Bab to other areas under their control ahead of the Syrian army’s imminent advance on the town.

As a landmark victory against the invading terrorist groups, the Syrian army liberated the strategic city of Aleppo in 2016.

Meanwhile, Turkish forces fighting as part of Operation Euphrates Shield have failed to keep their control over Bizaah. Daesh terrorists are said to have recaptured the town after multiple ambushes that left an unconfirmed number of Turkish soldiers dead.

In August last year, the Turkish air force and special ground forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria in a declared bid to aid the Free Syrian Army militants against Daesh terrorists.

Turkey is also accused of using the fight against Daesh as a cover to repel Kurdish forces, who themselves have been battling against the terrorist group.

Ankara has already made it clear that it will not tolerate Kurdish territorial gains close to its frontiers.

Source: PressTV

Iraq: Nearly 90 bodies exhumed at Daesh massacre site

Iraqi forensic specialists and international activists have found a mass grave containing the remains of more than seven dozen victims of a June 2014 massacre by Daesh Takfiri terrorists at an air force camp in the country’s north-central province of Salahuddin.

A provincial police source, requesting not to be identified, said experts from the Iraqi Health Ministry and Human Rights Watch activists had recently found 89 bodies inside former dictator Saddam Hussein’s palace compound in Tikrit, located 140 kilometers northwest of the capital Baghdad.

The source added that information obtained from captured Takfiri Daesh terrorists helped locate the mass grave, noting that the corpses will be sent to the forensic department in order to be identified.

On June 12, 2014, Daesh terrorists killed around 1,700 Iraqi air force cadets after kidnapping them from Camp Speicher, a former US base. There were reportedly around 4,000 unarmed cadets in the camp when it came under attack by Daesh militants.

Following the abductions, the attackers took the victims to the complex of presidential palaces and killed them. The terrorists also threw some of the bodies into a river.

The massacre was filmed by Daesh and broadcast on social media.

An investigation committee later revealed that 57 members of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party aided Takfiri Daesh terrorists in the massacre.

On August 21, 2016, Iraqi judiciary officials hanged 36 men convicted of involvement in the carnage.

Tikrit was recaptured from Daesh in March 2015. During clean-up operations in the northern part of the city, Iraqi forces found the location of the 2014 carnage.

Multiple bomb attacks claim lives in, near Iraqi capital

Meanwhile, at least two people have been killed and nearly a dozen others injured in a series of bomb attacks that ripped through areas in and around Baghdad.

Police said a civilian lost his life and five others sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device went off inside a parking lot in the capital’s central neighborhood of Bab al-Moatham on Sunday noon.

A sound bomb also exploded near a security checkpoint in the Zayouna neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, leaving a civilian injured.

Elsewhere in the town of Taji, located 30 kilometers north of Baghdad, a bomb blast left one dead and four others injured.

No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they have the hallmark of those carried out by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) says a total of 386 Iraqis were killed and another 1,066 injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict last month.

According to the UN mission, the number of civilian fatalities stood at 385 in December 2016. Violence also left 1,060 people – excluding police personnel – injured.

A great portion of the fatalities was recorded in the northern province of Nineveh, where 208 civilians were killed.

Terrorist attacks also left another 511 injured there.

Source: PRESSTV