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President Assad’s military is claiming success in counter-attacks on the Islamic State, a week after the militants took the city of Palmyra in central Syria.

State news agency SANA, citing a “military source”, assert that more than 140 “terrorists” were killed in Syrian airstrikes on Tabqa airbase, which also destroyed vehicles and large amounts of arms and ammunition.

No evidence has been given for the claim.

Located in Raqqa Province in northern Syria, Tabqa was seized by the Islamic State in August 2014 after a two-week offensive. It was one of the most significant regime bases for warplanes and helicopters.

Closer to Palmyra in Homs Province, State media claims that the army established control over highpoints on the al-Shaer Mountain, overlooking the al-Shaer and Jazal oil and gas fields.

The Islamic State had tried to take the village of Jazal, which is also close to electricity grids, on Monday.

Pro-Assad websites declare that there were more than 80 Syrian airstrikes in and near Palmyra on Tuesday. However, they say a ground attack on the Asphalt Factory was unsuccessful, albeit because troops were “forced to withdraw due to the Syrian Air Force’s bombing campaign in the eastern part of the Homs Governorate”.

And Al-Masdar News acknowledges that the Islamic State had its own success, taking the village of al-Muqassem to the west of Palmyra and creating a buffer zone of about 3 km (2 miles).

Elsewhere in Homs Province, the militants also attacked the town of al-Salamiyah and the villages of al-Safeera and al-Salihiyah.


Assad Uses Armenian Foreign Minister’s Visit to Blast Turkey

President Assad used the visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to denounce Turkey on Wednesday.

Assad “underlined the important of combating terrorism effectively instead of just announcing intention to fight terrorism while supporting it covertly”.

He then linked the Syrian crisis to Turkey’s killing of 1.5 million Armenians a century ago:

The suffering that the Armenian people experienced throughout their history is being experienced today by the Syrian people at the hands of the same murderous and terrorist sides, but now they are using different methods and have different goals.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem echoed:

If the international community had imposed the necessary punishment to the butchers who committed the massacres against Armenians in the early 20th century, then their descendants today in Turkey wouldn’t have dared to commit massacres via their pawns in Syria.

The question now is: what will the international community do to the new butchers?


Doctor from East Ghouta: “Because of Assad’s Bombs, We Fear the Sun”

A doctor from East Ghouta, near Damascus, talks about the fear instilled by the regime’s bombing:

People now, in Syria, consider the sun as a hateful thing — because a sunny day means that the military jet can move freely, and can hit more targets, and kill more people.

Footage, posted today, of aftermath of regime airstrikes that killed at least six people in the Damascus suburb of Erbeen (Warning — Graphic Images):


Rebels Clear Islamic State-Linked Group Out of Village Near Golan Heights

The Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra and rebel factions, including Ahrar al-Sham, have cleared an Islamic State-linked group, the Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk, out of a village near the Golan Heights in southwest Syria.

Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk had seized a Jabhat al-Nusra headquarters in Sahem al-Golan on April 29. On Sunday, Jabhat al-Nusra and allied groups attacked, soon facing the militant brigade to withdraw.

Footage of the village after the withdrawal: