Roundup: Syrian army resolved to continue battling terrorism

The Syrian army said Saturday that the number of terrorists fleeing toward the Turkish borders have increased significantly as a result of their "successes" against the rebel groups, according to the state news agency SANA.

Backed by local defense forces and Syrian and Russian air forces, the army has carried out successful battles against terrorist groups in several Syrian provinces, namely the countryside of the capital Damascus, southern provinces of Daraa and Swaida, central provinces of Homs and Hama as well as the northern provinces of Latakia and Aleppo, a statement said.

The military forces have controlled more than 65 towns, farmlands and areas in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo in recent weeks.

The Syrian air force carried out a total of 168 airstrikes against 590 rebel targets in several areas between the 17th and 26th of this month, the statement said, stressing that the army is more determined to continue its war on terror groups until restoring security and stability to Syria.

The statement came as a plan to evacuate nearly 5,000 rebels from southern Damascus' districts, which was scheduled to take place Saturday, has been frozen due to disagreements among the insurgents about their coming destination, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

The rebels divided on whether to go to areas under their control in the northern province of Aleppo or to the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) militants in Raqqa in northern Syria, the TV said.

The evacuation was a result of a deal concluded between the government and the rebels under a UN mediation, which succeeded earlier this month in securing the evacuation of nearly 300 rebels from the district of al-Waer, the last rebel stronghold inside the central city of Homs.

However, the Lebanese al-Manar TV, the mouthpiece of the Shiite Hezbollah group, said that the recent deal was frozen after the Syrian army killed the leader of the Islam Army rebel group, Zahran Alloush, in an airstrike east of Damascus on Friday.

It added that the Islam Army was part of the deal, as its militants were supposed to allow the rebel convoys leaving the southern districts of Qadam and Hajar al-Aswad to pass areas under its control before reaching al-Raqqa or Aleppo.

Alloush, born in 1971, was an active Syrian rebel leader during Syria's nearly five years of conflict. He was commander of the Islam Army, a Saudi-backed militant group located in several Syrian areas, mainly in the Eastern Ghouta Countryside of the capital Damascus.

The Islam Army was the main rebel group responsible for the daily mortar attacks against civilian areas inside Damascus.

The 45-year-old commander was arrested by the Syrian Intelligence in 2009 on charges of weapons possession. He was released in 2011 as part of a general amnesty three months into the Syrian conflict.

Following his release, he established a rebel group and rapidly expanded it till it became what is now known as the Islam Army, the most powerful rebel group operating in the Damascus area.

Almost a quarter million people, including nearly 12,000 children, have been killed in Syria's conflict since it broke out in March 2011. Endit