In an apparent response to Islamic State’s loss of ground elsewhere in Syria, the group’s fighters launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus overnight on Tuesday.
The Tishrin power station 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital was attacked by the Islamic State, the group claimed. While acknowledging that the Islamic State had staged the attacks, a Syrian military source conformed to media that all those who took part had been killed.
Islamic State militants were forced out of the town of al-Qaryatain, 100 km (60 miles) west of the ancient city of Palmyra by military pressures from Syrian and allied forces which was backed by Russian air strikes. Palmyra was recaptured by the government last week.
The attacks on the power plant outside Damascus appeared to be the jihadist group's response to its reverses around Palmyra on Tuesdya night, said Syrian sources.
Two other forces fighting the Isis - Turkish-backed rebel groups fighting a battle against the group north of Aleppo and the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria, have also been forcing the terrorist group from some its captured territories.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization that tracks the war said military positions near the airport, southeast of Damascus, were attacked by Islamic State attackers who used five bomb-laden cars. This attack killed 12 soldiers.
The Observatory said that jets struck the town of Dumeir, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Damascus, which is held by a rebel group sympathetic to Islamic State apart from the government forces responding to the Damascus attack with shelling and air strikes in that area.
The drivers of the five bomb-laden cars, around 15 Islamic State fighters and at least nine civilians were killed in the clashes, the Observatory said.
13 of the group's fighters had been killed in clashes in the area around Dumeir, the Syrian military source said.
Meanwhile a diplomat and two U.S. officials said that a US de-mining company was engaged in removing explosives and training of Iraqis to dismantle the devices planted by Islamic State in the largest Iraqi city retaken from the militants.
The return of around half a million displaced residents to the town of Ramadi 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad has been delayed as hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been planted throughout the streets and buildings of the city by the Islamic State militants. The city was recaptured three months ago by the Iraqi military who were backed by U.S. air strikes.
A shortage of Iraqi experts - military or civilian - trained in dismantling the explosives has slowed efforts to restore security, said the United Nations and the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital. Several of the technicians have also been killed by snipers.
The ability to secure and rebuild areas recaptured from Islamic State including the northern cities of Tikrit, Baiji and Sinjar has been limited by the Iraqi government's strained finances. Returning of civilians to most of these areas would critically depend on de-mining.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
The Tishrin power station 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital was attacked by the Islamic State, the group claimed. While acknowledging that the Islamic State had staged the attacks, a Syrian military source conformed to media that all those who took part had been killed.
Islamic State militants were forced out of the town of al-Qaryatain, 100 km (60 miles) west of the ancient city of Palmyra by military pressures from Syrian and allied forces which was backed by Russian air strikes. Palmyra was recaptured by the government last week.
The attacks on the power plant outside Damascus appeared to be the jihadist group's response to its reverses around Palmyra on Tuesdya night, said Syrian sources.
Two other forces fighting the Isis - Turkish-backed rebel groups fighting a battle against the group north of Aleppo and the U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria, have also been forcing the terrorist group from some its captured territories.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization that tracks the war said military positions near the airport, southeast of Damascus, were attacked by Islamic State attackers who used five bomb-laden cars. This attack killed 12 soldiers.
The Observatory said that jets struck the town of Dumeir, 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Damascus, which is held by a rebel group sympathetic to Islamic State apart from the government forces responding to the Damascus attack with shelling and air strikes in that area.
The drivers of the five bomb-laden cars, around 15 Islamic State fighters and at least nine civilians were killed in the clashes, the Observatory said.
13 of the group's fighters had been killed in clashes in the area around Dumeir, the Syrian military source said.
Meanwhile a diplomat and two U.S. officials said that a US de-mining company was engaged in removing explosives and training of Iraqis to dismantle the devices planted by Islamic State in the largest Iraqi city retaken from the militants.
The return of around half a million displaced residents to the town of Ramadi 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad has been delayed as hundreds of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) had been planted throughout the streets and buildings of the city by the Islamic State militants. The city was recaptured three months ago by the Iraqi military who were backed by U.S. air strikes.
A shortage of Iraqi experts - military or civilian - trained in dismantling the explosives has slowed efforts to restore security, said the United Nations and the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital. Several of the technicians have also been killed by snipers.
The ability to secure and rebuild areas recaptured from Islamic State including the northern cities of Tikrit, Baiji and Sinjar has been limited by the Iraqi government's strained finances. Returning of civilians to most of these areas would critically depend on de-mining.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
