Damascus, Dec 19 (IANS): Syrian troops Friday pounded rebel positions in the northern countryside of capital Damascus and eliminated many fighters of radical rebel groups in the southern region, media and activists reported.
The government troops bombarded the villages of Deir Makren and Efra in the Wadi Barada area in the countryside of Damascus in southern Syria, as the Syrian air force dropped barrel bombs on the western part of the rugged al-Qalamoun region northwest of Damascus, bordering Lebanon, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The shelling was coupled with clashes between the troops and extremist groups, mainly the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, in the town of Ras al-Ma'ara in al-Qalamoun, Xinhua reported citing the Britain-based observatory which relies on a network of activists on the ground.
Syrian government troops have been engaged in battles against rebel groups and extremists since last year in the western part of al-Qalamoun, a rugged region between the central province of Homs and Damascus.
The Syrian troops managed to sever the rebels' main supply line from neighbouring Lebanon during the fighting that lasted from last year's winter till the spring of 2014.
However, an array of militant groups are reportedly assembling in the eastern part of al-Qalamoun to fight both government troops and the Islamic State (IS) militants.
Meanwhile, state news agency SANA said the Syrian army eliminated many "terrorists" in the countryside of the southern provinces of Daraa and al-Qunaitera.
Leaders of the Nusra Front were among those killed, said SANA, citing military sources and added that many of the Nusra fighters were killed in the town of Sheikh Miskin, some 22 km north of Daraa.
The Syrian government forces also killed a number of rebels between the towns of Ajami and Tal Shehab, some 17 km from the city centre of Daraa and a few metres away from the Jordanian borders.
Over 190,000 people have been killed and millions of others displaced inside and outside the country as a result of the Syria crisis, which has become more complicated when radical groups capitalised on the chaotic situation to achieve territorial gains.