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SYRIA-CONFLICT-JIHADISTS
Syrian regime bombs IS jihadists in southern desert
BEIRUT, Aug 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Syrian regime forces bombed late Sunday a
desert area under the control of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group near
the province of Sweida in southern Syria, a war monitor said.
“The bombing and fighting between the regime forces and IS have
intensified during the evening and are continuing,” said Rami Abdel Rahmane,
head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“The regime is advancing to the north and northeast of Sweida”, adjacent
to the desert zone of the southern province, he told AFP.
This military operation would be “the start of a regime offensive to
dislodge IS from this pocket” in the Badiya desert of Sweida, he said, adding
that “a major military reinforcement (of regime troops) is massing” in the
area.
The fighting comes as Russia failed in its negotiations to free some 30
civilian hostages of the Druze religious minority taken by IS last month. The
kidnappings followed a series of coordinated attacks against Sweida province
which left more than 250 people dead.
On Sunday, the Observatory and news website Sweida24 announced that IS had
decapitated one of the hostages, a 19-year-old male student.
This execution, the first since the abductions, came “after the failure of
the negotiations with the regime forces”, according to the Observatory.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, an Arab-Kurd alliance which fought against
IS with the support of the United States, indicated Sunday that it was ready
to exchange with IS captured jihadists for the remaining Druze civilian
hostages.
Meanwhile IS, which has not claimed responsibility for the execution or
the kidnappings, has been pounded by multiple offensives in Syria and today
controls less than three percent of the territory.
However, it continues to launch attacks like the bloody strike and
kidnappings in Sweida.
The Syrian conflict which began in 2011 has claimed more than 350,000
lives and left millions displaced or fleeing as refugees.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1021 hrs
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