Syrian troops are now moppin­g up the remain­ing pocket­s of rebel and extrem­ists territ­ory in the southDAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar al Assad told his troops on Wednesday they were close to winning the country’s seven-year civil war after inflicting a succession of defeats on rebels. “Our date with victory is near,” Assad wrote in an open letter to the rank and file. Last week, Assad promised a similar offensive against the rebels’ sole remaining major stronghold Idlib province in the northwest. But his ally Moscow has ruled out any large-scale assault on the province in the near future. “There’s currently no question and can be no question of an operation of a major assault on Idlib,” Russia’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev said on Tuesday.

Source: The Express Tribune August 01, 2018 13:07 UTC