Syria’s strongest allied group, the Fatah Army, has made rapid advance in the western countryside of Idlib and nearby Sahl al-Ghab plain in Hama province, taking control of 12 hills and villages and inflicting humiliating defeats on Syrian regime army, activists and rebel sources said on Tuesday.
The new major offensive by the alliance of Islamist groups, including the Nusra Front and Islamic Ahrar al-Sham movement, seized control of most of Idlib countryside, only few months since the (Conquest Army) captured Idlib city, Ariha and Jisr al-Shughour towns.
A Syrian military source described the attack as large and widespread. The insurgents are seeking to drive into the Sahl al-Ghab plain, an area crucial to the defense of the coastal mountains that are the heartland for Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, Reuters reported.
Rebel news feeds on Twitter said Syrian regime forces had failed to defend the hills that overlooks on the Alawite villages. Rebels' superiority in the battle was decisive, they said.
Last week, Fatah Army launched an attack on two Shiite-dominated villages in northern Idlib after two years of siege. Rebels said the attack is in support to the rebels of Zabadani, the Syrian border town with Lebanon, who are facing brutal assault by regime army and Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Army of Fatah, a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the seventh century, has seized swathes of territory northern Syrian since late of March 2015.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army, one of the region's largest, has been over stretched by a four-year long insurgency where it is battling on several major fronts Islamist rebels and ultra-hardline jihadist militants who have seized large swathes of territory. Many young men have fled the country or find ways to avoid conscription.
Some diplomats say the army is now focused on defending strategic areas like Damascus, Homs and strongholds of Assad's minority Alawite sect in coastal areas.
Syria's four-year-old war has killed more than 230,000 people and forced millions out of their homes.
The new major offensive by the alliance of Islamist groups, including the Nusra Front and Islamic Ahrar al-Sham movement, seized control of most of Idlib countryside, only few months since the (Conquest Army) captured Idlib city, Ariha and Jisr al-Shughour towns.
A Syrian military source described the attack as large and widespread. The insurgents are seeking to drive into the Sahl al-Ghab plain, an area crucial to the defense of the coastal mountains that are the heartland for Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, Reuters reported.
Rebel news feeds on Twitter said Syrian regime forces had failed to defend the hills that overlooks on the Alawite villages. Rebels' superiority in the battle was decisive, they said.
Last week, Fatah Army launched an attack on two Shiite-dominated villages in northern Idlib after two years of siege. Rebels said the attack is in support to the rebels of Zabadani, the Syrian border town with Lebanon, who are facing brutal assault by regime army and Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Army of Fatah, a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the seventh century, has seized swathes of territory northern Syrian since late of March 2015.
Meanwhile, the Syrian army, one of the region's largest, has been over stretched by a four-year long insurgency where it is battling on several major fronts Islamist rebels and ultra-hardline jihadist militants who have seized large swathes of territory. Many young men have fled the country or find ways to avoid conscription.
Some diplomats say the army is now focused on defending strategic areas like Damascus, Homs and strongholds of Assad's minority Alawite sect in coastal areas.
Syria's four-year-old war has killed more than 230,000 people and forced millions out of their homes.
Zaman Al Wasl
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