FILE IMAGE: mod.gov.sy
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) have retaken another village from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allied militant group, Jaysh al-Izza, in the northern Hama countryside.
After government troops took back Um Khazim, the SAA and the NDF advanced on the village of al-Balil which they liberated after a series of firefights. Now, clashes are reportedly ongoing in the area of Um Turaikiya.
If government forces are able to stabilize the situation in the area, this will be another failure for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies which had been seeking to use their offensive in northern Hama to stop the SAA progress on other frontlines.
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Rats are starting to fight with each other again. Jihadi canibbalistic nature.
Either the SAA in this front have improved dramatically (they caved in like they were the Italian army during the last Hama offensive earlier this year), or Al Qaida has become but a shell of its former self. Either way would be interesting to read more about. I suspect a combination of both, with Al Qaida not having recovered from the defeats its suffered during the battles for Aleppo and the last Hama offensive.
If you count how many filed commanders and personnel HTS is lost in last year that isnt strange at all..
A couple of those good old pincer movements going on there ….. love it.