SYRIA UPDATE

President al-Assad meets Mr. Khamenei and President Rouhani: bilateral, fraternity relations were main factors against plots of hostile states

Talks during the meeting dealt with the latest developments in the region. President al-Assad pointed out that to realize the interests of the peoples in the region, this requires their governments to stop yielding to the will of some western states, on top, America, and adopting balanced polices based on the respect for the states’ sovereignty and non-interfering in their affairs, particularly as experiments have proven that yielding and implementing the others’ dictates give outcomes that are worse than to be states of sovereign decision.

The two leaders stressed that the escalation policy and the attempt to spread chaos, adopted by some western states, especially against Syria and Iran, will not make success in preventing the two countries from going ahead in defending their peoples’ interests and supporting issues of the region and their just rights.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=159663

Why There Will Be No Full US Troop Withdrawal From Syria

Therefore, from 1,000 to 1,700 troops, 200-400 of whom will be US personnel, will remain deployed in the war-torn country alongside with an unknown number of private military contractors. Comparing to the current 2,000-3,000 US troops operating in Syria, this is a notable decrease. However, this is far from any kind of the rapid and full troops withdrawal announced by the US president in December 2018.

In fact, Washington is reshaping its contingent to pursue own political and military tasks in the post-ISIS Syria. The US-led coalition will also keep most of its infrastructure established in Syria, including the al-Tanf base on the Damascus-Baghdad highway. This will allow the Trump administration to achieve the following goals:

To limit the growth of influence of the Damascus government, Iran and Russia in northeastern Syria;

To keep own proxies, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), under control and prevent any significant progress in negotiations between Damascus and the SDF in short-term. In some cases, this may lead to the creation of a quasi-state on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. This entity will in fact be controlled from Washington;

To keep a direct action tool to influence the situation on the ground. This should strengthen the US negotiation positions in its ongoing bargain over the northeastern Syria safe zone with Turkey;

To continue projecting power in Syria assisting to Israel in its operations against Iranian and Iranian-backed forces.

https://southfront.org/why-there-will-be-no-full-us-troop-withdrawal-from-syria/

Al-Maqt enters 32nd year of imprisonment in Israeli jails

After serving 27 consecutive years of imprisonment in the Israeli jails, Syrian prisoner Sidqi al-Maqt, from Majdal Shams town in the occupied Syrian Golan, enters today his fifth year in detention after he was re-sentenced. Israeli occupation authorities arrested al-Maqt, the longest-serving Syrian Arab prisoner in Israeli jails, on February 25th, 2015 after he unveiled the direct support provided by the Israeli entity to the armed terrorist organizations fighting the Syrian Arab Army in Syria.

The Israeli occupation authorities released al-Maqt in 2012 after serving 27 years in imprisonment, only to arrest him again on February 25th, 2015, after they broke into his family’s house and tampered with his belongings and confiscated his mobile phones and laptop without giving any justification for this blatant transgression.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=159645

Military Situation In Syria On February 25, 2019 (Map Update)

ISIS cells allegedly attacked an SAA position west of al-Mayadin. Pro-militant sources claim that 9 SAA soldiers were killed or captured;

The ISIS-held pocket near Al-Baghouz has not been eliminated so far;

The evacuation of civilians from the al-Rukban refugee camp is sabotaged by local militants;

ISIS claimed that its members had eliminated a “PKK” mebber in the al-Makif district of Raqqa city;

Ceasefire violations in norhern Hama and western Aleppo;

Syrian aircraft delivered series of strikes on militant positions in the de-escalation zone.

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-syria-on-february-25-2019-map-update/

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>>5383487

US helps Syria terrorists, it doesn’t fight them – Assad aide

https://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/

Huge amounts of weapons, ammo left behind by terrorists found in Quneitra, Damascus Countryside

SANA’s reporter in Quneitra said that while continuing to comb the areas liberated by the army from terrorism in Quneitra countryside and Damascus southwestern countryside, the engineering units, in cooperation with the locals, found huge amounts of weapons, ammunition, medicines , medical equipment and telecommunication devices some of them are US-made or Western-made.

Anti-tank missiles, some of them are US-made and a large number of rifles and heavy machineguns, some of them are Western-made, in addition to large amounts of varied ammunition were also seized, according to the reporter.

The reporter added that telecommunication devices, medical equipment and huge amounts of medicines some of them were made in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Israeli entity were also found inside dens of terrorists.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=159622

Military Situation In Northwestern Syria On February 25, 2019

The military situation in northwestern Syria continues to escalate with ceasefire violations and terrorist attacks happening in the area almost on a daily basis. Just recently:

Jaysh al-Izza destroyed a vehicle of pro-government forces in Zlin village with an anti-tank guided missile;

Syrian warplanes delivered strikes on militant positions in Sukayk, Tamana, Khwein, Zarzur and Khan Shaykhun;

A booby-trapped motorcycle explosion injured 2 civilians in Idlib city;

A Turkish-backed militant was killed by an IED explosion in Mashalah;

Pro-militant sources claim that Syrian Arab Army shelling caused civilian casualties in Zahra.

https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-northwestern-syria-on-february-25-2019-map-update/

Syrian Warplanes Deliver Strikes On Idlib Militants: For First Time Since September

For the first time in more than five months, warplanes of the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) carried out airstrikes on positions of radical militants in the southern Idlib countryside.

The twenty airstrikes, which took place on the morning of on February 24, covered the towns of Sukayk, Tamana, Khwein, Zarzur and Khan Shaykhun, according to Syrian opposition sources.

The SyAAF halted its activates over the opposition-held areas in northwestern Syria following the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone agreement on Idlib last September. This pause ended on February 24.

https://southfront.org/syrian-warplanes-deliver-strikes-on-idlib-militants-first-time-since-september/

More killing and destruction tools left behind by terrorists before being defeated come up to surface

Although large areas across Syria have been cleared of Takfiri terrorists, yet more civilians are killed every day through what have been left by terrorists of killing and destruction tools represented by thousands of mines and explosive devices.

Since declaring their war on Syria, terrorist organizations and their backers have sought to sow death and terrorism tools everywhere to intimidate the locals who rejected to leave their homes, towns and farms on one hand, and to prevent those who have been displaced by terrorism from returning to their villages and towns which have been liberated by the Syrian Arab Army on the other hand.

Military Expert, retired Brigadier General clarified that the repetition of incidents due to the blast of landmines and car bombs left behind by terrorists, the latest of which was on Sunday in al-Azib Valley in Hama eastern countryside, indicate that there are two reasons for that, the first of which is density of mines planted by terrorists before they had been eliminated whose position is difficult to figure out while the second reason is that the locals don’t know how to deal with exotic metal objects due to the absence of help by specialists and mass media.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=159601

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>>5383525

Video of Assad's Aide