Government battle tanks deployed to the area. Source: @QalaatAlMudiq/Twitter
Mohammed Aloush, a political leader of Jaish al-Islam, announced on March 21 that the group joined so-called opposition forces in the ongoing clashes against Syrian government forces in the Qabun industrial area in eastern Damascus.
نبارك للاخوة في #الفيلق استرجاع الكراجات والمعامل
وقد أخبرتني قيادة #جيش_الإسلام عن استعدادهم لإرسال المؤازرات إلى جوبر مع فتح جبهة القابون— محمد مصطفى علوش (@Mohammed_Aloush) March 21, 2017
Thus, Jaish al-Islam forces joined (a coalition of militant groups led by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) and Faylaq al-Rahman in their attempt to seize the Qabun industrial area and to link up the militant-held part of Qabun with the militant-held area in the Eastern Ghouta region.
Jaish al-Islam is the biggest ‘opposition’ group which has joined the so-called Astana peace talks brokered by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran and is described by Russa as a moderate opposition group. Mohammed Aloush has participated in the Astana format as a representative of the ‘moderate opposition’.
However, this has not prevented Jaish al-Islam from uniting with terrorists in their attempt to seize more areast in the countryside of the Syrian capital.
Ahrar al-Sham militants are in the Qabun industrial area:
