Islamic State militants put at least 12 people to death in execution-style killings in the ancient city of Palmyra, which they re-captured from the government for a second time in December, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The jihadist group beheaded four of the people – state employees and teachers – outside a museum, the group said. The eight others – four of them government soldiers and four of them rebel fighters captured elsewhere in Syria – were shot.

Some of the killings took place at an ancient Roman theatre in Palmyra, where Islamic State last year put at least 25 government fighters to death, the Observatory said.

Islamic State captured Palmyra for a second time from the government in December. Government forces and their militia allies, backed by Russian air power, took the city back from Islamic State in March, after first losing it in 2015.

Forces backing the Syrian regime, Russia and Iran-proxy Hezbollah, stepped up the alertness of its units based in eastern Syria, like reported by aawsat.com.

The sharpened presence is poured in an effort to counter an expansive attack staged by ISIS hardliners desiring to take over the eastern city of Deir al-Zor.

Even though Hezbollah militants have set foothold in Deir al-Zor, some eight months ago, a mayday was dispatched by the group calling for air support to thwart the ISIS-led offensive against the regime enclave.

“Hezbollah militants , especially the 137 brigade, have taken base and spread across all area (Deir al-Zor) neighborhoods and alleys,” Ahmed Ramadan, website manager of “Forat (Arabic for Euphrates) Press” told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Director Rami Abdulrahman confirmed that numbers of incoming Hezbollah militants have been registered arriving at the city’s airport.

Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah bin Yahya al-Moalimi urged the Security Council to issue an official resolution ordering the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria. The resolution would remove foreign terrorists, Hezbollah forces, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and foreign sovereign military from Syria battlefields.

Moalimi strongly defended that the Syrian people must be given the right to unconditioned self-determination, particularly in what concerns its political future.

The Saudi ambassador, stressed the importance of resolutions issued by the U.N. General Assembly, with respect to human rights in Syria as well determination to establish a divisive mechanism which gathers evidence and inklings, documenting information that could be used to hold those committing war crimes accountable for their actions.

The diplomat worded Saudi Arabia’s keenness to continue participating in all international efforts spent to bring about peace and stability in Syria. Moalimi welcomed the Security Council’s resolution No. 2336, which stressed the need to work on an exact political transition in Syria, according to the Geneva statement and decisions formerly issued by the body.

The air strike targeted Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi, a Tunisian jihadist in Idlib governorate

A US-led coalition air strike in northwestern Syria killed a top leader of al-Qaeda splinter group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, according to ibtimes.co.uk . Four other militants of the group were also killed in the strike on Idlib governorate, local reports said.

Abu Ibrahim al-Tunsi, the Tunisian jihadist, was reportedly a leading member of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly the al-Nusra Front.

“The air raid hit al-Tunsi’s convoy in the Aqrabat district in Idlib,” an activist told ARA News. However, coalition forces and the militant group are yet to confirm the leader’s death.

US-led forces have targeted the splinter group’s leadership in Syria in the past as well. In early January, the coalition succeeded in eliminating Abu Omar al-Turkistani, a military commander, and Abu Ali al-Tunsi, a security official. In 2016, coalition strikes killed Abu Afghan al-Masri, an Egyptian, Abu Faraj al-Masri, also an Egyptian, and Abu Omar Saraqeb, a Syrian jihadist, all leading the militant group in different capacities, the news agency reported.

Iraqi government forces achieved the most remarkable victory over Islamic State in the country, declaring the recapture of the eastern section of the city of Mosul, like reported by iraqinews.com.

A statement by the army’s elite Counter-Terrorism Forces, which spearheaded the battles against the extremist group in Mosul since October, said the eastern side of Mosul was officially liberated, adding that 3300 militants were killed since the launch of operations.

The development represents a major impetus for the forces which hope to move onwards to the west, where Islamic State militants still dominate. The recapture of Mosul would represent the strongest blow to IS influence in the region.

Shortly before the announcement, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah, who leads the Joint Operations Command battles in Nineveh, said in a statement the forces recaptured the Athariya (archaeological) zone, Tel Nerkal and al-Qadiya in the northeast.

Also in the northeast, Anadolu Agency, quoting a senior commander in the counter-terrorism troops, Fallah al-Abbassi, said 10 civilians were killed, including women and children, and 13 others were wounded when IS militants shelled districts recently recaptured by security forces.

Conflict in Mosul forced at least 178.000 people to flee to refugee camps, and the United Nations had voiced fears that battles could force at least one million out of homes.

Documents seized by security forces from former Islamic State facilities in Mosul have shown that several militants nominated for joining the extremist group’s police service were disqualified for several reasons that ranged from sexual harassment history to mental deficiencies.

The documents, which were circulated by social networks users, and the authenticity of which could not be verified, carry disqualified members photos, group’s main logo and the so-called “Islamic Police”’s seal.

The reasons for the disqualification of the members, which are shown in a handwriting, ranged from frequenting brothels, drinking alcoholics, having a sexual harassment history and exhibiting signs of mental normality.

The Islamic State emerged in Iraq and Syria in 2014, conquering several cities in both countries and proclaiming the establishment of a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate”. Since then, the group reportedly imposed extreme religious rules on citizens subject to its rules, deployed vigilantes to ensure the rules were abided by and carried out executions and harsh punishments against violators.

Islamic State has reportedly been crumbling over the past few weeks as Iraqi security forces advanced closer towards the liberation of Mosul, the group’s last major stronghold in Iraq. Reports have been rampant about divisions and an atmosphere of mistrust among members.

A senior Turkish official says two-thirds of a border wall to prevent infiltration from Syria has been completed, and that authorities had prevented a few attempts to dig tunnels underneath the wall, according to ap.org.

Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said Wednesday the entire project would be finished in the next few months.

Turkey has come under criticism in the past for not doing more to control its 900-km (560-mile) borders with Syria after conflict erupted there in 2011.

Formal and informal crossings were used by foreign fighters, including by al-Qaida and Islamic State group operatives, Syrian rebels, refugees and an array of aid workers.

Turkey started erecting a wall in 2014. In August, it launched a military operation to clear IS militants from a strategic border patch.

British air strikes have destroyed a site used by Islamic State (IS) as a base for drones in the battle for Mosul, the Ministry of Defence has said, according to belfasttelegraph.co.uk

A pair of RAF Typhoons bombed the Mosul building used by the group, which the Government refers to as Daesh, on January 12, the MoD announced.

A statement from the ministry said: “During the battle for Mosul, small armed remotely piloted aerial vehicles with grenades have been used by Daesh a number of times to harass Iraqi troops, with reports suggesting they have also been used to target civilian refugees.

“A building in the southern area of central Mosul was identified as being used as a base for these drones and their operators.

“On Thursday 12 January a pair of Royal Air Force Typhoons targeted the site, demolishing the building with two Paveway IV guided bombs.”

A Reaper drone watching over Iraqi forces in the city’s south east also fired missiles on “a number of terrorists armed with heavy and light machine guns”, according to the MoD.

The following day, the ministry said, the same type of aircraft spotted a “heavy rocket” being loaded into a truck by opponents.

“They and the vehicle were promptly struck by a Hellfire missile,” the statement said.

It comes after Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said two million people were freed from the rule of IS in the course of last year, as US-led coalition forces gained ground in Iraq and Syria.

Sir Michael, who is briefing MPs privately on the progress of operations against IS, described “substantial progress” in driving the group out of Iraq, with Mosul – its last stronghold in the country – expected to fall to Iraqi forces this year.

In Syria, he said the US-backed militias of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were closing around the IS “capital” of Raqqa.

In the course of last year it is estimated almost 25,000 IS fighters were killed and the group now controls less than 10% of Iraqi territory.

Iraqi-led forces, backed by the United States military, have reportedly pushed the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of its strategic base in northern Iraq’s Mosul University complex

Mosul University once served as the jihadist group’s headquarters, makeshift chemical weapons factory, training facility, and killing ground.

Citing the United Nations, the Telegraph reports “radioactive materials” have been found in the university along with chemical agents used to make weapons, like reported by breitbart.com .

The Telegraph explains that ISIS jihadists had transformed a dormitory into a “makeshift chemical weapons factory” after taking agents from chemical stores in the College of Sciences.

“Soldiers were unable to enter and specialist engineers had been called in to neutralize any potential dangers posed by the chemicals,” adds the news outlet.

Mosul University has been described as formerly one of the largest higher education centers in the Middle East.

The Telegraph notes:

Iraqi special forces struck a devastating blow at the weekend to the jihadists, who were using the campus to stage a “final stand” in the east of Mosul, [ISIS’s] last stronghold in Iraq.

After entering the complex early on Friday, troops faced stiff resistance in the form of sniper and mortar fire and more than a dozen car bombs.  More than 40 [ISIS] militants were killed and a dozen captured in fierce fighting.

“This was the toughest resistance we had seen so far in Mosul, they were everywhere,” declared Rasous Sabagh, identified by the British news outlet as one of the first soldiers to enter Mosul University.

However, the Iraqi private added, “By Saturday they [ISIS] were panicking, they were scared and some of them had even started to run away.”

Reuters learned from a spokesman for Iraq’s Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) that the allied forces had “swept through the campus of Mosul University on Sunday to clear it of any remaining Islamic State militants after taking full control of the area.”

“The university is completely liberated and forces are sweeping the complex for any hiding militants,” CTS spokesman Sabah al-Numan told Reuters. “Most buildings are booby-trapped so we’re being cautious.”

The ongoing offensive to retake the city of Mosul — led by a U.S.-backed coalition of an estimated 100,000 fighters made up primarily of Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga troops, and Iran-allied Shiite militias — has been raging since October.

Citing Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab al-Saadi of the Iraqi counterterrorism forces, CNN notes that the U.S.-backed forces participating in the operation have also seized parts of the east bank of the Tigris River, which bisects Mosul from north to south.

Taking the eastern bank of the river will allow U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and their allies to begin efforts to take the western part of the city which is still controlled by ISIS.

“The latest phase in the bid to retake Mosul has advanced more quickly than expected… The new government complex in eastern Mosul as well as several Mosul University buildings had at one time been a headquarters and killing ground for ISIS fighters,” points out CNN.

CTS Spokesman al-Numan reportedly indicated that Iraqi security forces discovered “large amounts of suspected chemical substances and ‘a bomb factory’ at the university.”

Moreover, Iraqi federal police, which recently joined the U.S.-backed coalition fighting to seize back Mosul, noted Saturday, that intelligence information led them to uncover a facility used to make chemical weapons in al-Bir, about 27 miles south of Mosul.

ISIS has used chemical weapons in the past against the U.S. military, Iraqi forces, and their allies.

Losing Mosul, Iraq’ssecond-largestt city and the last remaining major ISIS stronghold in the country, could mean bring the end of the jihadist group’s presence in Iraq.