Al-Nusra Front Terrorists Flee Battlefields in Hama after Sustaining Heavy Losses

“After repeated defeats in Northern Hama and Al-Nusra Front commanders’ lack of attention to the injured militants and leaving them behind, the terrorists have lost their morale and, hence, left the battlefields,” media sources said.

Meantime, a military source confirmed that the Syrian army’s artillery and missile attacks as well as air raids by the country’s air force on the  Al-Nusra Front’s concentration centers and movements severely weakened the terrorist group and made them dig deep tunnels for storing their weapons and ammunitions.

“This is while the senior Al-Nusra Front commanders used civilian cars to flee the battlefields,” the source added.

He also said that a number of notorious Al-Nusra Front commanders have been killed in the Syrian army attacks and air raids on their military positions, in vehicles and tunnels.

In a relevant development on Monday, the Al-Nusra Front sustained another major defeat in Northern Hama and lost control over a key town after brief, but bloody, clashes with the Syrian army.

Military sources on both sides of the war reported on Monday that the Syrian army pushed forward in the Northern parts of Hama province and captured the town of Maardis.

Later reports said the ground troops continued their advance in the same region and imposed control on Maardis Bridge and Maardis Mills.

Reports also said that other army units, backed up by massive artillery and rocket fire, raided Al-Nusra’s strategic position on Hill Tal al-Dowair and pushed the terrorists further back after fierce battle.

Army troops said the Al-Nusra lost control over the town and the hill and sustained dozens of casualties in the two battles, adding that the government troops are still on the march in Northern Hama.

The army has won back over 20 towns and villages that it had lost to the Al-Nusra Front North of Hama province after hunting hundreds of terrorists, including several Saudi ringleaders.

“Some 80 percent of the territories lost to the terrorists in the last few weeks have now been recaptured by the army following a series of counterattacks on Al-Nusra (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) militants in the region,” a ranking army officer told FNA.

The source further pointed out that the army has managed to seize back a sum of 20 towns and villages, the Qatar Tayyebeh Al-Imam Station and a number of other key military positions in the region.

“In these operations, hundreds of terrorists have been killed, including Emir of the Tahrir al-Sham Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board) training camps Abu Fahd Al-Anzi, Commander Mohammad Ahmad Joulaq, Mufti (religious leader) Abu Riyaq Turkistani and Saudi Commander of Turkistani Party Abdul-Rahman Abdullah Do’ayd,” he stated.

The Syrian Army troops launched massive attacks on terrorists’ defense lines in Northern Hama on Sunday.

The army forces and their popular allies, backed up by the artillery units, started a fresh offensive against terrorists’ positions around Halfaya at dawn on Sunday, suppressing and destroying the defense lines of the militants.

Military sources reported that the government forces are steadily approaching the city, adding that an intense battle is underway within a one-mile distance from Halfaya.

Halfaya remains the last major stronghold of the terrorists in the province of Hama.

The Syrian army continues to push militants to the provincial borders with Idlib.

Sources said on Saturday that after a week of deadly clashes in Northern Hama, the militants’ defense lines finally buckled as government forces retook a large part of the territory from various terrorist factions in Central Syria.