...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...Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army managed to infiltrate Jaish al-Islam’s primary line of defense near the Misraba axis, paving the way for their troops to capture a large number of farms in southern Douma.
According to military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army has managed to reach the southern outskirts of Douma and should be able to reach the first buildings inside the town by Sunday evening.
In addition to their advance in southern Douma, the Syrian Arab Army was also able to capture several points at the western axis of the town.
Suspected chemical attack 'kills scores' in Syria's Douma
[Al Jazeera] A suspected chemical attack in Douma, the last rebel-held stronghold near Syria's capital, Damascus, has killed at least 70 people and affected hundreds, rescue workers have told Al Jazeera.
The White Helmets, a group of rescuers operating in opposition-held areas in Syria, said on Saturday that most of the fatalities were women and kiddies.
"Seventy people suffocated to death and hundreds still suffocating," Raed al-Saleh, head of the White Helmets, told Al Jazeera, adding that the corpse count was expected to rise as many people were at death's door.
Al-Saleh said that chlorine gas, as well as an unidentified but stronger gas, were dropped on Douma.
"White Helmet volunteers are trying to help the people but all what we can do is evacuate them to another areas by foot because most of the vehicles and centres went out of service."
One member of White Helmets told Al Jazeera that an entire family had suffocated to death as they hid in their cellar, trying to seek shelter from air raids and barrel bombs.
Syrian state media denied government forces had used chemical weapons.
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