In a New Blow to Armed Groups, Syrian Army Controls Mleiha

Local Editor

The Syrian army took control of a town just outside Damascus from terrorists on Thursday, a blow to the armed groups who had held it for more than a year.

Syrian state television broadcast showed government soldiers in the streets of Mleiha, which lies on the edge of the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus airport. Buildings were damaged or reduced to rubble, and tanks patrolled the streets.

Mleiha, about 7 km from the heart of Damascus, has formed a base for armed groups fighters to bombard the capital with mortars in Syria's three-year war.

The Britain-based, pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had taken most of Mleiha and were using planes to attack the last point of resistance.
"Everything here is now under the control of the Syrian Arab Army," a soldier told state TV.
"The town of Mleiha is the biggest in Ghouta and used to be a supply route for the gunmen. This will lead to the fall of other towns into the hands of the army," said an army commander.

A statement issued by the General Command of the Syrian army said that Syrian Arab Army units, assisted by civil defense groups, managed to carry out the task of restoring security and stability to Mleiha and the surrounding farms in the Eastern Ghouta area.

The statement said that this was achieved following a series of decisive special operations in which the army eliminated large numbers of terrorists who were holed up in the town and had been using it as a base from which to carry out terrorist operations and attacks on civilians.

The General Command said that with Mleiha under control, the Syrian Army has effectively closed the noose on the remaining pockets of terrorists in the Eastern Ghouta, and established a springboard from which these terrorists can be eliminated completely.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team