Syrian army besieges last Daesh stronghold in Aleppo

Syrian government forces stand on a street with national flags after army and allied forces took full of the strategic town of Salma, in the northwestern province of Latakia, on January 12, 2016. (AFP photo)

The Syrian army is besieging the last stronghold of the Daesh Takfiri terrorists in the northern province of Aleppo, weeks after launching a campaign to liberate the entire province.
The Syrian Central Military Media said Thursday that Syrian troops launched the siege on the Daesh-held town of Deir Hafer, located on Aleppo-Raqqah highway, after capturing nearby areas from the terrorists.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Syrian government forces have now cut the road linking Deir Hafer with Raqqah Province, the main Daesh stronghold in the country.
Elsewhere in northern Hama, Syrian army forces managed to push back militants with Takfiri Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, known as al-Qaeda in Syria, after briefly losing ground to the terrorist organization in the west-central city.
The Syrian army succeeded in consolidating its positions and it is currently engaged in heavy fighting with the militants.
The offensives coincide with another in the eastern neighborhoods of Damascus, where heavy clashes are underway between army forces and Takfiri militants.
The militants have failed in their attempts over the past days to reach the heart of the Syrian capital amid stiff resistance by government forces.
The clashes are taking place despite a truce which has been in place across Syria since last December. The ceasefire does not include the Takfiri terrorists of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Daesh.
On Thursday, UN humanitarian advisor on Syria Jan Egeland said the delivery of humanitarian aid to almost 300,000 civilians in the outskirts of Damascus has been cut due to the continued fighting in the area.
Nearly 161,000 civilians in the besieged Douma rural area and 142,000 others in Kafr Batna have run out of food stocks and all the routes to the areas have been blocked.
The UN is preparing to send an aid convoy to Wadi Barada, a valley outside Damascus on Friday, but humanitarian aid to other areas has been stalled.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates wrote two letters to the UN, in which it held Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar responsible for the escalated fighting between government forces and foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists on the outskirts of Damascus.
The ministry called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and combat terrorism and criminal acts being perpetrated by Takfiri terrorists.
The letters also read that such attacks are simply aimed at undermining the UN-sponsored Syria peace talks, which opened in the Swiss city of Geneva on Thursday.