Rebel fighters shoot down three warplanes / Syrian Revolution News Round- zu / Day 579

Rebel fighters shot down a fighter jet in the village of Anjara in the western suburb of Aleppo. They also shot down a helicopter gunship in the Homs suburb of Qosayr and another one in the Idlib suburb of Khan Sheikhoun. The rebel fighters said that they seized control of an air defence base in the town of Atiba in the eastern Ghouta district of Damascus province after killing and arresting dozens of soldiers while capturing a number of missiles, military tanks and anti-aircraft weapons.

Heavy battles have raged between the rebels and the joint Assad-Hezbollah forces on the edges of the Old city of Homs and the neighborhoods of Khaldiya and Jouret Sheyah as well as in the provincial towns of Rastan and Qosayr.

Fierce clashes were also reported on several fronts in the city of Aleppo, mainly centered around the air intelligence compound in the neighbourhood of Jamyat Zahra. Clashes have also raged on several fronts in the city of Deir Azzour and the suburbs of Idlib, Aleppo, Daraa, Latakia and Raqa whereby the rebels inflicted heavy losses on regime forces and killed more than 63 soldiers.

On the other hand, regime forces killed at least 57 people and injured dozens more in Damascus and its suburbs, including at least eight that were killed in the refugee city of Nabek near Damascus due to the indiscriminate artillery shelling and a car bomb explosion that targeted an anti-government demonstration. Meanwhile, at least 6 Palestinians died due to the indiscriminate shelling in the town of Thiyabiya, while scores of rebel fighters were killed in the provincial towns of Douma, Erbin and Atiba as well as in the neighbourhoods of Qabun, Jobar and Qadam.

Regime forces also resumed their daily indiscriminate shelling in the southern neighbourhoods of Damascus, as well as the provincial towns of Harasta, Madaya, Saqba, Kafarbatna, Hazeh and Artouz, in addition to a number of towns in the eastern Ghouta district.

At least 32 different areas were bombarded in the province of Homs, the fiercest bombardments were on the villages of Zafarana and Deir al-Foul, whereby at least five people were killed and dozens more were wounded.They also shelled at least 28 different towns and villages in the suburbs of Idlib, mainly focusing on the towns of Ma’arrat Noman and Heish which was then invaded and a family of eight members were executed and at least 10 rebel fighters were killed. Regime forces also shelled more than 18 different towns and neighbourhoods in Aleppo province, whereby at least seven civilians were killed while queuing for bread in the neighbourhoods of Shaar and al-Bab. Meanwhile, at least nine civilians were killed when a fighter jet shelled a residential building in the neighbourhood of Hamidiya in the city of Deir Azzour.

Regime forces also resumed their massive military operations amid suffocating siege and indiscriminate attacks on residential areas in Daraa, Hama, Latakia and Raqa, leaving scores of civilians dead and many more wounded while destroying dozens of houses, thus prompting a mass exodus. The EU said it will impose its 18th round of sanctions on Syria. The new sanctions will target Syria’s arms industry and bar more of its officials from travelling to Europe in addition to preventing the Syrian airlines from landing at European airports.