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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Army loses a dozen tanks as persistent Islamist militants cling-on to stronghold town in east Damascus
2018-03-19
[ALMASDARNEWS] Despite earlier reports that the Syrian Army had imposed full control over the town of Ar-Rayhan in Damascus’ East Ghouta region, the reality stands that rebel fighters remain in partial control of what still appears to be a standing stronghold for them.

Even more, it has become apparent that the Syrian Army has endured major losses to its armored forces in the ongoing festivities for Ar-Rayhan and its surrounding countryside (still heavily littered with undiscovered tunnels and trenches).

A video (shown below) released very recently by the Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
Lion of Islam faction suggests that as many as a dozen Syrian Army tanks have been knock-out by various means available to local bad boys.

By far, Ar-Rayhan has proven to be the most persistent bad boy stronghold encountered by the Syrian Army; even before the latest Damascus offensive, the town had withstood dozens of attacks by government forces.
Posted by:Fred

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