...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...have been killed in Damascus’ eastern district city of Douma.
The slain rebel leaders have been identified as Jaish al-Islam management chief Abu Ali Idara and treasury chief Abu Omar Maliyah. At the present time, it is unclear how exactly the two krazed killer commanders died.
In an official statement, Jaish al-Islam claimed they were killed in a Syrian Army artillery strike, however local opposition sources are claiming they were assassinated by their own ranks.
If the claims by Douma-based activists are true, then it is possible that a dispute over the recent agreement reached between Jaish al-Islam and the Syrian government may have been the reason for the liquidation of the rebel commanders; however, this is only speculation for now.
Free Syrian Army fighters stranded in Damascus’ Douma city evacuated to north Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] Despite the fact that Faylaq al-Rahman (Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
affiliate) rebels operated far away from Douma city in Damascus’ East Ghouta region, it has become apparent that some group’s fighters nonetheless got stranded in 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...stronghold.
In any case, as of Sunday, all Faylaq al-Rahman that found themselves besieged in Douma alongside Jaish al-Islam faceless myrmidons have since been evacuated to Syria’s northern province of Idlib; hundreds of civilians departed with them.
It is unclear exactly how many Faylaq al-Rahman rebels (dozens or hundreds) left Douma, information on this may emerge later.
As for Jaish al-Islam, evacuation of its fighters (i.e. those who have chosen not to reconcile with the Syrian government) to areas of Aleppo province under
Syrian Army hoists national flag above toughest-ever rebel stronghold in east Damascus
[ALMASDARNEWS] Militants defending Jobar ‐ actually part of Damascus city proper and not the nearby East Ghouta region ‐ resisted countless attacks by the Syrian Army from the earliest years of the Syrian conflict.
The sheer amount of tunnels and trenches connecting to Jobar from neighboring rebel-held districts meant that Syrian forces could never quite outflank the or surround it; many government troops fell during the battles for the east Damascus suburb.
In the end, a powerful Syrian Army advance from the eastern direction (where defenses were never prepared) threatened to completely overrun myrmidon forces and upon realizing this, forces of Evil capitulated.
On Saturday, the last rebel fighters present in Jobar along with those in Arbeen, Hazzah and Zamalka evacuated towards Idlib province; since then the Syrian Army has assumed full control over the district.
Syrian war reporters drive their vehicle through 20 km-long rebel tunnel in east Damascus
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Alikhbaria Syria news channel has released an exclusive video report (below) showing what appears the be the largest rebel tunnel ever discovered in the Syrian War.
The tunnel, located in Damascus’ East Ghouta region, is twenty kilometers long. It connected rebel positions and underground bases throughout the once bully boy-controlled districts of Jobar, Ayn Tarma and Arbeen.
As the video shows, the tunnel is wide enough to allow the Syrian war news hounds drive through it in their van.
One of the people present with the Alikhbaria Syria news team (front passenger seat) was captured by Lions of Islam earlier in the war, only recently being released following the capitulation of rebel forces in East Ghouta. He claims that forces of Evil used civilian and Syrian Army hostages to dig the tunnel.
The tunnel allowed rebels to relocate forces throughout vast areas of East Ghouta without being detected and attacked by Syrian and Russian warplanes.