Israel Shells Syria, ISIS Militants Lose Territory Along Syrian-Turkish Border, Syrian Army To Renew Siege Of Aleppo

Israel shells Syria in retaliation for mortar hitting Golan

Israel targeted Syrian Army artillery in the Golan Heights Sunday night, hours after a mortar shell landed on the Israeli side of the DMZ.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Israeli retaliation. Syrian opposition sources reported intense shelling of the village of Hamidiyah, in the demilitarized zone, around the time of the response.

“The IDF holds the Syrian government accountable for this blatant breach of Israeli sovereignty, and will continue to act in order to safeguard Israel,” the army said in a statement.

Israel’s retaliatory strike came a few hours after a stray mortar shell fired from Syria hit a road in the central Golan Heights.

No injuries were reported in that incident, but the mortar damaged a roadway.

Syrian opposition media reports around the time of the earlier incident said forces in Tel al-Sha’ar, a village near the demilitarized zone separating Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, fired artillery at troops in Hamidiyah, a village in the DMZ. A report posted on Twitter by the Step News Agency wasn’t clear about which force was responsible for the fire. Clashes were also reported in the nearby village of Jubata al-Hashab.

ISIS militants lose all territory along the Syrian-Turkish border

• Reports claims ISIS has lost all its territory along the Syrian-Turkish border
• Turkish forces and Syrian rebels thought to have expelled the militants
• Rebels and Islamist factions backed by tanks and warplanes took villages

ISIS militants have lost all territory along the Turkey-Syria border - and in a double blow to the terror group, authorities have also seized an arsenal of weapons in Iraq.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels have driven the Islamic State group from the last strip of territory it controlled along the Syrian-Turkish border, a Turkish news agency reported.

The advance effectively seals the extremist group's self-styled caliphate off from the outside word, shutting down key supply lines used to bring in foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition. 

The Anadolu news agency today reported that Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army rebels had cleared the area between the northern Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus.

It said the advance 'has removed terror organisation Daesh's physical contact with the Turkish border in northern Syria'.

'IS has lost its contact with the outside world after losing the remaining border villages,' said the UK-based news agency, monitor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added: 'rebels and Islamist factions backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes' had taken several villages on the border 'after IS withdrew from them, ending IS's presence... on the border.'

Here's what ISIS leaves behind as it loses territory on all fronts

Syrian Army Seeks to Renew Siege of Aleppo After Gaining Ground Against Rebels

The Assad regime made major advances against rebels just south of Aleppo with government forces planning to encircle opposition fighters in order to reimpose the controversial siege on what was once the crown jewel city of Syria.

The Syrian Arab Army plowed through territory south of Aleppo City on Sunday as the Assad regime once again looks to encircle rebel controlled territory in a bid to reestablish the siege.

"The Syrian army, supported by allied forces, has total control of the armaments academy and expanded the territory it controls in the military academies zone," said the SANA state news agency.

Additionally, military sources told AFP that the government has already recaptured the air force academy and that rebel fighters "are now besieged in the artillery academy."

Video footage shows airstrikes devastating an artillery college in southern Aleppo confirming the Assad government’s advances in the rebel controlled area making the reimplementation of the siege more likely.

The siege is unpopular among Western analysts who argue that it causes disproportionate suffering among Aleppo’s civilian population who are unable to access necessary food and medical care in the Assad regime’s effort to starve the opposition forces of supplies. Russia looked to remedy this situation through the implementation of humanitarian corridors for civilians to evacuate, but the idea was never fully tested as the siege was fractured only days later. Others worry that the civilians are effectively held hostage by the rebels and are caught in between the two forces.