Syrian troops battle rebels near Lebanese borders

The Syrian troops on Sunday carried out “precise and intensive” operations against rebel groups near the Syria-Lebanon borders, killing many, the state news agency SANA reported.

The military offensive targeted the “terrorist” groups in the Wadi al-Kahf area near the Lebanese borders in the eastern countryside of Syria’s central province of Homs, according to SANA.

It added that the army units inflicted hefty losses upon the rebels.

The area has been used by the rebels to infiltrate from Lebanon to Syria, said SANA, charging that the rebels there are supported by the Lebanese al-Mustaqbal Current.

Separately, the Syrian army killed 20 rebels on Sunday in the northwestern province of Idlib, said SANA, adding that it was part of the army forces’ ongoing attacks on the rebel positions in the countryside of Idilb, close to the Turkish borders.

Meanwhile, the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 12 fighters of the Islamic State militants were killed on Sunday by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants in the predominantly Kurdish city of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, in northern Syria.

The YPG on Sunday captured the town of Mamid, southwest of Ayn al-Arab, according to the Observatory.