It has been a long time since the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) have made any headway in the Al-Ghaab Plains of northern Hama; however, this changed on Thursday morning when the Syrian Armed Forces struck the Islamist rebels of Jaysh Al-Fateh (Army of Conquest) at several sites near the Latakia border.
The Syrian Arab Army’s 45th Regiment of the 1st Armored Division – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF) of Masyaf and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) – began their assault at the hilltop village of Tal Zajram, where they were confronted by a joint Jaydh Al-Fateh force from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, the Free Syrian Army’s “Liwaa Suqour Al-Ghaab”, and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra at the southern flank.
According to a military source from the 45th Regiment, the Syrian Armed Forces were able to secure the southern entrance of the hilltop village after the Russian Air Force’s fighter jets pounded Jaysh Al-Fateh’s positions at the southern flank, killing several enemy combatants in the process.
This morning, the Syrian Armed Forces have shifted their attention to the villages of Al-Ziyarah, Tal Wassit, and Al-Mansoura in the Al-Ghaab Plains, striking the enemy combatants at several flanks in an attempt to advance their positions.