Syria grants amnesty to group of militants

According to Damascus, the amnesty is part of ceasefire agreements between the Syrian army and the militants in several towns in the western countryside of the Syrian capital to restore peace in the area.

“I started fighting [against the Syrian government] thinking we would have a better future, but when the foreign militants started coming in and dominating the scene I knew it was wrong,” one of the militants who has turned himself in said.

A rehabilitation program has also been organized for those who have turned themselves in.

Meanwhile, Syrian army forces continued their military operations against the foreign-backed militants across the country, inflicting major losses and casualties on the terrorists.

On Saturday, Syrian troops launched an operation in the north of the capital, taking control of several industrial buildings. They also discovered a tunnel used by the militants.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011 with ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently controlling parts of it, mostly in the east.

The Western powers and their regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - are reportedly supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

More than 191,000 people have been killed in over three years of fighting in the war-ravaged country, says the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), calling the figure a probable “underestimate of the real total number of people killed.”

HK