Syrian troops resume clashes with opposition in Qabon

Violent clashes have erupted between opposition factions on one hand and governmental troops loyal to Syria’s former President Bashar Al Assad, as the governmental troops attempted to achieve advance in the areas controlled by the opposition. The governmental troops launched artillery attack against the districts near the Syrian capital of Damascus with no information about humanitarian losses.

The governmental troops raided Arbeen town of Damascus’ eastern ghouta, as they targeted areas in Harasta with a number of shells leading to material damages with no information about humanitarian losses. The residents of Madaya city found the body of young man with signs of torture. They accused the governmental authorities of killing him.

In the same context, Syrian Arab Army forces, on Wednesday, destroyed two vehicles belonging to the Islamic State group in Wadi al-Uzaib area, while foiled an attack on military checkpoints, in eastern Hama, a source told the Syrian News Agency.

The source said that an army battalion engaged in clashes with the Islamic State militants that attacked military checkpoints, in Salmeya area, in eastern Hama. Security forces managed to foil the attack, after killing several terrorists of the Islamic State and destroying their armed vehicles, the source added. Meanwhile, army forces also destroyed two vehicles, including an armed one, belonging to the terrorist group, in Wadi al-Uzaib area, east of Salmeya City.

The Syrian fighter jets bombarded areas in Jebel Al Sheikh of Damascus’ western country side with bombing barrels with no information about humanitarian losses. They also bombarded areas in the towns of Najia and Bedama leading to material damages with no information about humanitarian losses. Four fighter of Idlib’s Free Army have been killed during the bombardment of their area between the towns of Hass and Kafer Noble.

Air strikes killed 23 civilians, including eight children, on Thursday in countryside around the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's base in Syria, a war monitoring group said. The warplanes were believed to belong to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State militants, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Air strikes killed at least 11 people, including four children, in a village north of the Syrian city of Raqqa overnight, a war monitoring group said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes, thought to belong to the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, hit al-Salihiya village before midnight and also injured several civilians.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition could not immediately be reached for comment. The U.S. military has said it makes “extraordinary efforts” to avoid civilian deaths in its bombing runs in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The coalition has been supporting Syrian militias with air strikes and special forces in a campaign to isolate and capture Raqqa city, Islamic State’s base of operations in Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, have seized territory from the jihadist group and advanced on Raqqa from the north, east and west.

The Observatory said air strikes, also believed to be by coalition planes, killed 10 people who were driving through desert areas that link Islamic State-held parts of Raqqa province and the nearby Hama countryside earlier this week.

The jets struck the village of al-Matab southeast of Raqqa, near the Euphrates River, the Observatory said, adding that several air raids had also pounded areas east of the city. An alliance of Syrian militias has been waging an offensive on Raqqa with air strikes and special ground forces from the U.S.-led coalition. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces cut the last main road out of Raqqa this week, severing the highway between the city and the militant group's stronghold of Deir al-Zor.

Air strikes pounded a town in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Thursday, killing seven civilians and injuring more than 70 others, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based war monitoring group said two warplanes, believed to be Russian, dropped nearly two dozen bombs on al-Mayadin in the Islamic State stronghold of Deir al-Zor.

The strikes hit a school sheltering displaced people, a bakery and residential areas in the town, which lies along the Euphrates river, the Observatory said. The Syrian government and its Russian ally have repeatedly said they only target militants.