The official SANA news agency said Sunday that most of the Saudi militants were holed up in a mall in the area of Kafr Hamra in Aleppo's northern countryside.

Army units also clashed with insurgent groups affiliated with the al-Nusra Front militants near Kilikia, Maaret al-Artik, and Einjara school, killing many of them.

Units of the armed forces carried out several mop-up operations against militants in Dara’a and its countryside, as well as Homs and Idlib.
 
The development comes as the bodies of 70 Saudi nationals fighting against the Syrian government have been returned to Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bodies were delivered to the country at King Fahad International Airport in the city of Dammam.

The source said the Saudi regime had sent a number of diplomats to Turkey in order to facilitate the transfer process.

He also said there are currently about 8,000 Saudi nationals in Syria fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

President Assad said in May that militants from as many as 29 different countries were fighting against the government in different parts of the country.