Islam Times - 'Syria Army targets militant hideouts'

Islam Times - The Syrian Army has continued to target the hideouts of foreign-backed militants on the outskirts of the capital Damascus.

Syrian troops raided terrorist hideouts in Darayya area, one of the strongholds of the militants, on Monday. The government forces achieved progress around the shrine of Sayyeda Sukeina, an important monument for Muslims.

A number of militants who fight against the government of President Bashar al-Assad were killed during the Syrian Army’s mop-up operations in the area and one armed man was arrested.

Meanwhile, a correspondent of Iran’s AL-Alam television network, who accompanied the Syrian Army in the operations, was slightly injured in the head after a mortar shell fired by the militants fell close to him.

Also on Monday, Syrian troops launched attacks against militants in the governorates of Homs, Idlib, Latakia, Hama, Deir ez-Zor and Aleppo and killed dozens of them.

The forces also captured many machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, hand-made rockets, mortar shells and anti-tank missiles.

Syria has been gripped by a deadly unrest since March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of government forces, have been killed in the violence.

Damascus says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

The Syrian government says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.

Several international human rights organizations have accused militants operating in Syria of committing war crimes.