Syria’s Assad Gives Eid Prayers Near Seized Islamic State Pocket

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave prayers on Friday (September 1) for Islam’s Eid al-Adha festival in the town of Qara, near an enclave surrendered on Monday by Islamic State fighters.

Confined to Damascus for long periods in the early part of Syria’s six-year civil war, Assad has grown more confident in travelling around government-held areas as the army and its allies have won a series of victories.

The departure of Islamic State and other groups from the Western Qalamoun district means the border with Lebanon is Syria’s first to be controlled entirely by its army since early in the conflict.

Qara is only a few miles from the pale, dry mountains delineating the frontier with Lebanon, straddling which Islamic State and other militant groups held territory until August.

The Islamic State fighters in the border pocket accepted a truce and evacuation deal after simultaneous but separate offensives by the Lebanese army on one front and the Syrian army and Hezbollah on the other.

The post Syria’s Assad Gives Eid Prayers Near Seized Islamic State Pocket appeared first on Channels Television.

from Channels Television