A SYRIAN Electricity Ministry official said on Thursday that a worker was killed and four others were injured in an explosion of a landmine left behind by terrorists in Adra city in Damascus Countryside that is home to residential compounds for workers.
The official said that the workers were doing maintenance work on high voltage transmission lines in the city when the mine went off, noting that one of the injured is in a critical condition.
Meanwhile, terrorists attacked electricity workers who were carrying out repair and maintenance work on high voltage transmission lines in Ma’an area in the countryside of the central province of Hama.
An official at the Ministry of Electricity said that the terrorists opened fire on the workers and kidnapped a number of them.
Meanwhile, Syrian Army units were continuing their mop-up operations against the armed terrorist groups across the country inflicting heavy losses upon them.
Units of the armed forces on Thursday killed many terrorists and left others wounded who were attempting to attack military posts in the surrounding of al-Qaryatain, Bseeda and Maar Hattab towns in Maaret al-Nouman in the countryside of the northern province of Idleb.
A pick-up car equipped with a heavy machine gun and a mortar which the terrorists were using was destroyed in the operations.
Terrorists Mahdi al-Omar al-Mohammed, an explosives expert and leader of a terrorist group, Diaa Sa’do al-Degheim, Talal Sa’do al-Degheim, Abboud Hafez al-Shahad, Mohammed Abdulrahman al-Sayyah and Zakaraya Hisham al-Mahrouq were identified among the dead.
Units of the armed forces killed many terrorists in several towns and villages in the central province of Homs and in the city, foiling infiltration attempts by some and destroying a den for others, including for groups’ leaders.
Army units left a number of terrorists dead and others wounded after targeting them in separate areas in al-Waer neighbourhood in Homs city, while others foiled attempts by terrorists to infiltrate from the same neighbourhood towards al-Muhandisin roundabout.
Other army units destroyed a den for leaders of terrorist groups in Talbisa area in the countryside.
Scores of other terrorists were left dead and others were wounded as the army targeted them in the village of Jazl and the surrounding farms in Palmyra countryside and in Ein Hussein and al-Msheirfa in Homs eastern countryside and in Jabal al-Nuaimat in the southern countryside of al-Qusayr area.
Army units killed many terrorists and injured others in operations against their gatherings in the western road of al-Taiba town in the southern province of Daraa a military source said, adding that another army unit targeted terrorists’ gatherings in Atman town in Daraa, killing and injuring many of them.
In Quneitra, units of the armed forces eliminated and injured many terrorists and destroyed a number of their vehicles in the areas of Um al-Ezam and near Mas’hara gas station in the countryside of the province. A number of terrorists near al-Alam roundabout were also killed and wounded.
• Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said Syria is the ‘sole bearer of the sovereignty of the Syrian people’, stressing that the consent of the government of Syria must be guaranteed if the recently formed international alliance was to take any action against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist organisation.
‘If this kind of action (by the US-led alliance) is really needed, then it’s essential to achieve a common position and get the go-ahead from the legitimate government of Syria,’ said Medvedev in an interview with the American CNBC TV channel aired on Wednesday.
He noted that Russia’s attitude towards the anti-ISIS international alliance is not related to the stance of the US on Syria as the latter has changed its former position and been recently trying to find channels to communicate with the Syrian leadership directly.
Commenting on Russia’s counter-terrorism cooperation with other countries, including the United States, Medvedev said: ‘The mandate for counter-terrorism operations must be obtained in accordance with international law and on the basis of a consensus.’
He noted: ‘It’s always bad when this is done on the basis of decisions taken by individual governments, even if they have good intentions,’ adding that, ‘This has happened on many occasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is happening now in Syria.’
Syria categorically rejects the establishment of buffer zones in any part of its territories under whatever pretext and rejects any intervention of foreign forces in its land, the Syrian foreign ministry made it clear in a statement on Wednesday.
It said that Syria will take, in consultation with its friends, all the necessary measures to preserve its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The statement slammed Turkey’s attempts seeking the creation of a buffer zone inside Syria as ‘a gross violation’ of the principles, goals and Charter of the UN and the rules of the international law which call for respecting the national sovereignty of countries and not intervening in their internal affairs.
Those attempts, the statement said, are also an infraction of the Security Council’s resolutions in relation with combating terrorism and draining its sources, citing particularly resolutions 1373, 2170 and 2178.
The ministry lashed out at the Turkish government for having been, since the outset of the crisis in Syria, systematically carrying out everything that could disrupt Syria’s stability and jeopardise its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Turkey’s government, the ministry added, has provided all forms of political, military and logistic support to the armed terrorist groups whose members have come to Syria from over 83 countries, including shelter, training, funds and arms as well as access into the Syrian territories.
The ministry also lambasted Turkey for having turned into a major base for terrorism which is striking Syria and Iraq and threatening the other countries of the region, citing the ‘conspiracy unfolding’ in the border town of Ayn al-Arab (known by Kurds as Kobane) as the most telling evidence of the close relationship between Ankara and the terrorist organisation of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has been for weeks now trying to seize control of the town.
The Turkish government’s violations, the ministry said, demand that the international community, and particularly the Security Council, move quickly to terminate these violations ‘which pose a threat to the regional and international security and peace’.
The Foreign Ministry stressed that the Syrian people are the only ones with the right to determine their choices and future, being the ones who have been facing killing and destruction through their resilience and the heroic achievements and sacrifices of their army.
The Syrian people ‘won’t allow anyone to interfere in their affairs, and are bent on confronting the plots that are targeting the unity and safety of the Syrian land and people and on defending their sovereignty and independent national decision,’ the statement stressed.
