Syrian fighter jets targeted opposition in Daraa with bombing barrels

Syrian fighter jets threw bombing barrels in areas controlled by the opposition parties in Daraa and its countryside, as it also launched four missiles on the same areas with not reports over humanitarian losses. Meanwhile, the opposition factions targeted gatherings of governmental troops in the same city.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State group has assigned a new Emir, on Wednesday, after the killing of the first line leaders by a U.S. air strike in Jillen Town, west of Daraa. Qasioun News reported on Thursday that the Islamic State militants have pledged allegiance to Wael Fa’our al-Eid, also known as Abu Taim Inkhil, as the General Emir in al-Yarmouk Basin, after serving as the military Emir in the same area.

The 40-year-old new Emir was the security operations and assassinations official in the so-called Jaysh al-Jihad (Jihad army) in the area, especially in Inkhil Town. It is noteworthy that the international coalition bombarded, yesterday, headquarters of the Islamic State’s Jaysh Khalid Brigade, west of Daraa, and killed the General Emir of the group in the area.

In the same context, Islamic State militants have withdrawn from the last territory they held in Aleppo province after the Syrian army retook the Ithriya-Rasafa road and areas east of Khanaser, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday.

A military media unit run by the army’s ally Hezbollah said soldiers had captured the Ithriya-Rasafa road and besieged Islamic State’s positions east of Khanaser. It did not say the jihadist group had abandoned those positions.

A war monitor said Islamic State regained control over most of the industrial district in Syria’s Raqqa on Friday, but the alliance fighting it denied that while acknowledging there was a jihadist counter attack in the east of the city.

The assault marked Islamic State’s first sustained effort to fight back against the slow advance into Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab groups, took the industrial district this month in its biggest gain so far in Islamic State’s Syrian capital of Raqqa.

It said on Friday that there had been heavy clashes since late Thursday in east Raqqa, where the industrial district is located, in the areas of al-Rawdha, al-Nahdha and al-Daraiyah.

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Islamic State had regained control over most of the industrial area in fierce fighting.

The SDF, on its social media feed, acknowledged there had been intense clashes, but added the whole industrial district was still in its hands and the attack had been thwarted.

On Thursday, the Observatory said the SDF had managed to take the last stretch of the Euphrates’ south bank opposite Raqqa, completely encircling Islamic State inside the city.

Since all Raqqa’s bridges were already destroyed, and the U.S.-led coalition was striking boats crossing the river, the city had already been effectively isolated since May.

Naser Haj Mansour, a senior SDF official, told Reuters on Thursday he thought it could be “maybe more than a month or a month and a half” before the group took the city. Previous SDF timescales for its war on Islamic State have proven optimistic.

Beyond Raqqa, Islamic State still retains most of the 200km (130 mile) stretch of the Euphrates valley flowing to the border with Iraq. The Syrian army still holds a big enclave in Deir al-Zor, the area’s largest city, on which it is slowly advancing from the direction of Palmyra.

On the other hand, Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition against Islamic State visited north Syria on Wednesday and met the council planning to run Raqqa after its capture from the jihadists to assure it of support, one of its members said.

The U.S.-led coalition is supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias that began fighting inside Raqqa three weeks ago.

The SDF announced the creation of the Raqqa Civil Council in April to replace militant rule in a city that has for three years been Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.

McGurk has met the council in Ain Issa in north Syria twice before in meetings that were not publicized, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, Omar Alloush, said.

Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the coalition, said coalition members are routinely in northern Syria working with the SDF and other local entities including the council. He could not confirm McGurk’s visit on Wednesday and referred queries to the special envoy’s office.

Alloush said McGurk and other coalition officials, including its deputy commander Major General Rupert Jones, promised infrastructure help but did not discuss how much money was available.

“They did not specify any sum, but they decided we will support first removing mines, lifting rubble, maintenance of schools, then electricity stations and water,” Alloush said.

This month, volunteers at the council told Reuters they had informed the coalition it would take about $10 million a year to restore power and water supplies, roads and schools.