SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/syrianarmy.sy/
On January 9, members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) withdrew from the villages of Rasm Hamideh, Astablat, Surouj and al-Adiliyah in southern Idlib under a pressure from the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces and their allies, according to pro-government sources.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was not able to organize a strong defense in the area and started preparing for a fighting in the area of Abu al-Duhur.
On January 8, government forces liberated over 12 villages in the same area and deployed within about 10-12km from the Abu al-Duhur airbase. MORE DETAILS AND MAP
The advance of the Syrian Army is actively supported by the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces. According to local sources, an intense bombing campaign and a lack of military equipment and anti-tank means are the key reasons behind the failure of the militants in southern Idlib.
Quote: “According to local sources, an intense bombing campaign and a lack of military equipment and anti-tank means are the key reasons behind the failure of the militants in southern Idlib.” Incorrect. HTS have plenty of US anti-tank missile systems and they knocked out or disabled some 10 Syrian government forces tanks already. The real and main factor which is leading to the fast advance of the Tiger Forces is the Tiger Forces themselves, their strategy, their discipline, their ability to get things done and achieve objectives set. They showed it against ISIS, the confirmed it here. Air support also plays a big part, but it’s the troops on the ground which make all the difference and this is proven by the fact that all other units of the Syrian government army had air support and none were as successful as the Tiger Forces.
I’m not denying at all that the Tiger Forces are awesome, but on the other hand rewind back to early last year when Al Nusra and its Best Friends launched their Hama offensive, and the Tiger Forces also were heavily deployed, and the advance was nowhere near as fast as it is today. In fact it was slow as molasses.
I reckon that Al Nusra has not recovered from that battle and the US no longer shipping weapons to Al Nusra’s Best Friends (the FSA) is also a key factor.
They are still supplying them but just not on the same scope as before since the scrutiny is so heavy now and as soon as an NGO gets caught smuggling weapons all their aid gets halted. Why these groups are not so quick to aid and abet the US/Allies in their criminal activity, they aren’t exempt from being charged.