File image.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies on November 28 expanded their large-scale offensive against the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), codenamed Operation Deterrence of Aggression, to the southern Idlib countryside after their initial success in the western countryside of Aleppo.
On the first day of the offensive, the militants moving from the Greater Idlib region broke through the defenses of the SAA in the western Aleppo countryside, capturing the 46th Regiment Base as well as over a dozen towns and residential areas, incluing Urm al-Kubra, Anjara, Urm al-Sughra, Sheikh Aqil, Bala, Ajil, Awijil, al-Hawtah, Tal al-Dabaa, al-Zaatari Factory, Hayr Darkal, Qubtan al-Jabal, al-Saloum, al-Ma’arri Association, al-Sa’diyah Association, al-Qasimiyah, Kafr Bisin, Hawr, Aznaz, and Basraton.
While the militants’ advance in the western Aleppo countryside slowed down, their new push in the southern Idlib countryside appears to be going according to plan.
So far, the towns of Dadikh, Kafr Batikh, and Sheikh Ali, which overlook the strategic M5 highway, have all reportedly fallen into the hands of HTS and its allies, including the Turkistan Islamic Party, Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad and cluster of Turkey-backed armed factions.
The SAA is currently bringing reinforcements, including units from the elite 25th Special Mission Forces Division, to the fronts in the western Aleppo countryside and the southern countryside of Idlib. Warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Arab Air Force have been also targeting militants in these areas non-stop since the start of the offensive.
In its first comment on the militant’s offensive, the Syrian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on November 28 that Syrian troops had inflicted “heavy losses” on HTS and its allies in cooperation with “friendly forces.”
At least 65 militants of HTS, 18 others from Turkey-backed factions and some 49 Syrian troops have been killed since the start of the offinsive, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It is important to note that the London-based pro-opposition monitoring group was accused in the past of inflating SAA losses.
HTS and its allies are relying mainly on suicide attackers, moving quickly on pickup trucks or motorcycles. The militants have been also using drones to collect intelligence, or conduct strikes.
In the month leading to the offensive several reports talked about a plan by HTS and its allies to attack the SAA in order to take advantage of the distraction caused by the ongoing Israeli war on both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
In addition, Russian intelligence warned recently that the secret services of the Kiev regime were actively providing support to militants in Greater Idlib.
The HTS-led offensive very much put an end to the ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey on March 5 of 2020. Ankara, who maintains a large force in the region, has not yet commented on the offensive. Many observers doubt that such an offensive would be possible without the permission of the Turkish military, or at least its knowledge.
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keep killing each other and leave israel alone.
genocidal americans backing their genocidal puppets in israel!!!! its much better when americans are killing each other in their schools, neighbourhoods, shopping malls, rather than killing defenceless civilians in far away distant lands like, iraq, syria, afghanistan, libya, somalia, lebanon, gaza, west bank, yugoslavia, vietnam, korea, etc etc etc!!!
you are clearly a putin fan because, like him, you believe that wars are won by crying. out of curiosity, do you still wear diapers and sleep with a teddy bear?
another amerikunt turd humiliated
it’s no doubt and no mystery that isis and other qaeda groups are created funded and directed by cia and mossad. the only reason for this covert war in syria has always been to try to remove assad because he won’t kowtow to usraeli hegemony
you are a bot. a f-wit bot. your criticism of the previous commentary makes no sense, in view of its content. radically skewed logic there little one.
having proxies fight your battles, yes cause your military is shit.
it is auntie transgender sam
the ottoman empire accepted jews for many years and it is not yet dead
erdoggy is nut’nyahoo’s puto. we all get it.
i suppose the zionist supported qaeda-hts terrorists in idlib will try to sever the m-5 highway somewhere around saraqib, even if they succeed it will only be temporary like the last time. mark my words.
fsa are in aleppo now
countryside of aleppo idiot.
yes only 3 km from aleppo city
not there yet.
know do you think saa lose war ?
i dont understand why they cant win against fsa
fucking stupid turkish looser. you turks are at average stupidest and most primitive ppl in asia.
to stage a truce and then break it when the wind is favorable!
the same scenario awaits russia after a rotten agreement with ukraine!
both macron and merkel have now admitted that minsk2 only served to gain time, to make kyiv fit and nothing else.
ultimately, the west will try to pull russia over the table once again, as it has always done!
russians should take the eastern part of ukraine and stop to the dniepr. any agreement with nato now means bigger war next decade. our leaders are evil jews, never ever trust them.
that was hollande.
bomb them back to hell saa!!!!!
watching zionazi israhell burn and shrivel up like dried camel dung is probably the most wonderful thing that humanity can witness today. enjoy; the rest of humanity certainly does. the hollow cost bs is all used up. now the world sees the beast that is the khazar squatter, a demon most putrid. onward to palestine rid of vermin.
if you have a talkative, oligophrenic and cowardly boss, you are doomed to suffer. putin’s subliminal message to iran and syria is: you’d better align yourself with the united states and israel, because i’m only protecting my cat.
turdeooze mulatto semen from anuz
yep, and the cat has worms and wears a little joo beanie.
erdoghan the great putin’s friend , the guy who shot down the russian jet
kgb policy by the looks of it. the little 5d chess playing maestro in action. kosygin and gromyko turning in their graves full time now.
this is very bad situation, 1. 24 november erdoğan and putin had a phone conversation! 2. rebel factions are only 10-12 kilometers from idlib! 3. if idlib falls that would be great victory for israel and turkey! 4. this time hezbollah can’t be so much of a help in this battle!
and you get downvoted for telling the truth.
saa is alone :( new batle for aleppo very soon
saa is weak
so 250.000 saa troops with thousands of hisbollah, iran and shia militias, including russian air support, unable to defend only a 200km front line?
seems the saa mod even more moronic and incompetent than the russian mod?
says lgbt amerikunt sodomized by taliban 20 years
how can a terrorist scream ‘god is great’ when god doesn’t stand by terrorists. these are usa paid and trained terrorists, plain and simple. god has nothing to do with them.
assad and the syrians unfortunately realise they are alone, and known it for years. the iranians have a wildcard in the hormuz strait. trump would have all the fun he needs if his maga crowd ended up paying $15 a gallon for fuel. they’d go ape shit. make israel great again. 🖕
these animals are nowhere to be found when it comes to fighting a real enemy? the zionists, but when it comes to killing their own brothers, they’re always there in the forefront.