The losses in men and material among the ranks of the terrorist group ISIL are so considerable that they requested assistance to their bases in the Syrian city of Raqqa -their primary stronghold-, and from Iraq and Afghanistan, confirmed Russian intelligence sources.
According to a statement issued by the Syrian high command, the army regained control of the area of al-Myabel, in Harasta, 12 kilometers from the center of the capital, and broke the defensive lines of the terrorist bands in the town of Noula, in Eastern Gouta.
In Harasta the armed groups continued being harried in the town of Zamalka, as well as in areas of Heyarieh, Nuleh and Qasimieh, where the death of a group of Takfirists of the self-proclaimed Conquest Army (Jaish al-Fatah) was reported.
Other actions took place in the mountainous region of Qalamoun, bordering with Lebanon, where members of the ISIL were killed in the Qara plains and the elevations of Petra.
In the province of Homs, 162 kilometers east of the capital, the Syrian ground forces regained control of the entrance to the villages of al-Iza'aa, Gherbal, al-Qanatri, and the town of Termaalah, and continue their advance in Yawalek, Sneisel, Termaaala and al-Ghanto.
The air force destroyed four technicals at Jabal al-Heil, while other clashes were reported in al-Bayarat and at Um Sharshouh, while an ammunition depot was bombed in Um Sharshouh.
The air force attacked ISIL positions in the city of Karyatein, and in the vicinity of Abou Hwadit, 73 kilometers east of Homs.
North of the province, the Syrian-Russian air strikes destroyed a camp of the al-Nousra Front -armed branch of al-Qaeda in Syria- in the vicinity of al-Rastan, and infantry units and militia regained control of the towns of Sanisel and Mahata, and part of Ywalek.
Meanwhile, in the province of Hama, 209 kilometers northeast of the capital, four technicals and an armored vehicle were destroyed in the town of al-Mansoura, with the additional reports of the death of 15 enemy combatants.
According to spokesmen for the army, two vehicles outfitted with 23mm machine guns were destroyed, and dozens of Takfirists were left dead on the battlefield.
A convoy of the ISIL was also destroyed in the area of Em Khadiy, near the city of Salamiya, eliminating 23 vehicles and taking down more than 45 terrorists.
In the province of Latakia, 348 kilometers to the north of Damascus, the aviation bombed the vicinity of Yab al-Ahmar, in the district of Salma, and in the nearby mountainous areas, causing the deaths of more than 300 armed extremists.
The offensive continues in the south of Aleppo, after strengthening the control of the towns of Blas, Tal al-Zahmoul, al-Dabaghat, Talet al-Shahid, al-Wadihi and its surrounding areas, al-Qdara, al-Hwaiya, Kafar Abid, al-Sbeihiya, al-Sabikiya, and northwest of the town of Abtin.
Other villages were liberated in Aleppo: al-Yabiriya, Bkeiya and Tal al-Sabin and its surroundings, and there is fighting in the areas of Kafarkar, and al-Khatib, where a cache of weapons and ammunition was destroyed.
While the ground offensive is ongoing, the Russian Air Force conducted 50 air strikes on Thursday against 72 terrorist targets in the provinces of Deir Ezzor (to the East), Aleppo, and Idleb (in the North), Hama (center) and Latakia and Damascus (West).
The Russian planes destroyed 10 command posts, two ammunition dumps, an explosives workshop where car bombs were manufactured, two Grad rocket launchers, seven camps, and a training center.
According to the Russian high command, 19 fortifications and 31 caches of weapons, ammunition and combat vehicles were destroyed in the province of Hama.
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PL-5/MNA