Syrian Forces Take Out Takfiri Militant Positions, Make Gains in Northwest

Supported by Russian air strikes, the Syrian Arab Army and National Defense Forces have managed to destroy terrorist positions in throughout the country’s northwest, making gains in Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Latakia provinces in the last 24 hours, according to the Iranian news agency Fars.In Latakia, scores of Takfiri militants fled their positions after the Syrian forces launched a spate of large-scale offensives in the villages of Salma and Nubia, where the army destroyed the terrorists’ strongholds, vehicles and weapons.

The Takfiri militants have emerged as a jihadist group in Syria alongside Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) and the Al-Nusra Front, and also recruit foreign fighters to achieve their religious extremist objectives. According to the Iranian media, members of the Salafist group claim the right to purge any Muslim for the crime of apostasy, the rejection of the principles of Islam. While not all members of the Islamic fundamentalist Salafi movement condone violence, Takfiris expressly endorse the use of violent jihad to eliminate those who don’t agree to a strictly fundamentalist interpretation of the religion.

In Hama, at least 18 terrorists were reportedly killed and dozens more wounded after the Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces stormed the terrorists’ positions near the town of Morek.

During the attack, the Syrian forces captured militants’ vehicles and weapons, the sources said.

In addition, dozens of Takfiri terrorists were killed in Homs, where the Russian and Syrian warplanes hit their terrorists’ strongholds all across the province.

Syrian army soldiers patrol near a building previously used for storing seeds in the countryside of Deir Hafer, a former bastion of Islamic State group, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on December 2, 2015

In Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Army and the National Defense Forces, backed up by Russian air strikes, managed to regain control of parts of the key village of Humaymah al-Kabira located east of the Kuweires military airbase, which was regained by the army in November.

Also, the Syrian army destroyed terrorist strongholds and meeting points near the towns of Kafernaha and al-Hader in Aleppo, where scores of jihadists were killed in the fighting.

The Russian air campaign was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian aircraft, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 warplanes, commenced precision airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Earlier that day, the Russian upper house of parliament unanimously supported the request of President Vladimir Putin to deploy units of the Russian Aerospace Forces abroad.Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad confirmed that Syrian Army strikes, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, were being carried out against armed terrorist organizations, not political opposition factions or civilians.