Syrian military repels Jihadi attack on eastern Damascus

Jihadis fighters affiliated to Al-Qaeda launched a surprise attack on eastern Damascus today.

This attack comes after weeks of Jihadi defeats in and around Damascus, with the Syrian army steadily driving Jihadi fighters away from the Damascus countryside.  The result has been to leave Damascus far more secure than it has been ever since the first big Jihadi offensive – Operation Damascus Volcano – launched by the Jihadis in June 2012.

The attack involved a massive underground tunnel bomb and use of two suicide bomb trucks, which are both favoured Jihadi tactics.  According to the normally highly reliable Al-Masdar news agency, the attack however failed to make any significant progress, and has now been repulsed.

These sudden Jihadi attacks cannot change the direction of the war, which is shifting steadily in the Syrian government’s favour.  They do however illustrate that the war is far from over, and that the Jihadis retain both the will and the capability to strike at the Syrian government even in its most secure strongholds such as Damascus.

There is much fighting left to do in Syria before the country is fully secured and at peace.