Hello and welcome to the 150th installment of the SWD .

Military events/news are listed below by the governorates:

Aleppo:

Liwa al-Shamal released a statement saying that Captain Mohammed Areur joined its ranks.

Raqqa:

Situations remains mainly the same territory-wise in the city of Raqqa, SDF and IS clashed in several areas, including Al-Qadisiyah and Rawdah districts. Yesterday, IS’ improvised explosive device killed four SDF ‘s fighters near the “Baghdad gate”, according to the Amaq Agency. One IS’ improvised explosive device targeted SDF today, this time near the old/historic wall, reportedly killing five and injuring four fighters.

Idlib:

Suicide bombing targeted Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s gathering near the spinning factory, east of Idlib city. Initial reports suggest that six fighters were killed and over a dozen injured.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham continued its anti-IS operation in Idlib governorate. Around 32 individuals affiliated with IS were reportedly arrested. Ahrar al-Sham launched an anti-IS operation of its own, though on a smaller scale. House being used by the alleged IS’ members was raided and the individuals inside of it arrested.

Two bodies of the executed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s fighters were found near the town of Sarja. The individuals were identified as Abu Mamdouh and Abu Abdel al-Aziz from Abu al-Banat group, part of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Suqur al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham are being accused of committing this act.

Homs:

Syrian Arab Army was engaged in heavy clashes with the Islamic State on the axis east of Arak. Amaq Agency claimed death of four SAA ‘s soldiers, and launch of two anti-tank guided missiles which damaged two SAA ‘s tanks.

Damascus:

Syrian Arab Air Force conducted three raids over Faylaq al-Rahman-held Ain Terma. SAA ‘s shelling of Jaysh al-Islam-held Douma resulted in death of two civilians, including a child.

Jaysh al-Islam reported it ambushed a group of SAA ‘s soldiers, as the latter tried to advance on ‘Damascus-Homs highway’ front. Casualties from the ambush are reported at six dead SAA ‘s soldiers and over a dozen of injured. On Hawsh al-Dawahirah front, Jaysh al-Islam claimed death of more than 19 SAA ‘s soldiers, during the clashes in the past two days.

Syrian Arab Army & allies advanced south of Al-Seen Air Base, against the Free Syrian Army’s factions. SAA is attempting to close a rebel pocket northeast of Al-Suwayda by capturing today: Um Ramam, Al-Ghudaht, Bir Mahrutah and Al-Juayf.

Commander in the Free Syrian Army’s Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya, Abu Saddam, allegedly defected from the group and joined the Syrian Arab Army, this info should be taken with a huge grain of salt. What sparked these allegations is the photo showing Abu Saddam meeting with Wafiq Nasir, the head of the military security branch for the southern Syria. Enab Baladi reported that the photo showing the two figures is from the negotiations.

The aforementioned negotiations were reportedly held regarding the retrieval of the body of SyAAF’s pilot, whose MiG-23 fell in Al-Dakwa area, on the 5th of June. In exchange, SAA released a number of civilians, who were allegedly kidnapped from Abu Saddam’s village of Otaybah, forcing the rebels to participate in the negotiations. After the exchange took place, Abu Saddam was wounded and transferred to a hospital in Jordan. Abu Saddam was wounded once again, recently.

Situation in the southern Syria, squared area = clashes/advances. Source: Syrian Civil War Map

Daraa:

Rebel group, “Liwa Aishat um al-Munimin”, announced its decision to join the southern branch/sector of Jaysh al-Islam in Daraa.

Unknown explosion targeted an ambulance near the 52nd Brigade, in Al-Harak. According to the reports, the explosion didn’t cause any casualties. Important thing to note, the brigade’s area was shelled by the Syrian Arab Army’s artillery, two days ago.

Iraq

Nineveh:

Cleaning operations continue in the Old Mosul district, as the Islamic State’s fighters are still holed up in a number of areas in the district. Some of these IS’ fighters decided to surrender themselves to the Iraqi forces, around 40 individuals departed from hidden localities, such as basements and tunnels.

Islamic State launched several attacks against Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in the desertous area, west of Mosul. IS’ attacks were concentrated southwest of Al-Hadher, and were all repelled, according to the Iraqi sources. The same sources also claimed that there were four separate attacks, which resulted in at least 30 IS’ vehicles destroyed. Islamic State’s Amaq Agency confirmed that the IS launched an attack against the Iraqi forces, and also claimed that four Al-Hashd al-Shaabi’s vehicles were destroyed, west of Al-Hadher, when they accidentally entered a minefield.

The eight day of clashes between IS and Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, in and around Imam Gharbi village, allegedly resulted in death of nine latter’s fighters.

Karbala:

Iraqi security forces defused a VBIED in the northeastern part of Karbala, near a mosque.

Islamic State shelled the city of Karbala with Katyusha and Grad missiles/rockets, this act was confirmed by IS’ Amaq Agency.

CJTF-OIR :

On the 11th of July 2017 CJTF-OIR has conducted 14 strikes in Syria. CJTF-OIR ‘s main focus in Syria at the moment is Raqqa region where they did three strikes supporting SDF ‘s operations against IS destroying a fighting position and a mortar tube, and suppressing a fighting position.

Other areas where 11 airstrikes occurred are Abu Kamal (Al-Bukamal) and Deir al-Zour, destroying 44 IS oil refinement stills, four weapon caches, four well-heads, three separator tanks, a storage tank, five oil tanks, and 10 oil tankers. Full report on CJTF-OIR strikes conducted in both Syria & Iraq can be found here.

Amaq Agency:

Libya:

Yesterday, IS’ improvised explosive device killed three individuals at a checkpoint in Dar Najd, Qifa, northwest of Al-Bayda.

Other:

Intellectual credited property used may vary from an edition to edition.

Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below, constructive criticism is welcomed.

For those of you interested, you can follow us on an official Twitter account @SyrianWarDaily, or me personally on my biased twitter @joskobaric where I occasionally tweet some things.