Hezbollah and the Syrian Army Inch Closer to Complete Control Over Al-Zabadani

The Syrian Arab Army’s 63rd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division – in coordination with Hezbollah, the National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) – continued their advance inside the resort city of Al-Zabadani on Monday, capturing more building blocks and militant hideouts that the Islamist rebel forces are clinging to in order to bypass complete surrender.

On Monday morning, the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance stormed Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) defensive positions at the Al-Zabadani Commercial Bank, where both parties engaged in a violent firefight for control of this large building that the Islamist rebel factions used to store supplies.

Following a volatile morning that was filled with significant bloodshed for all the parties involved, the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance finally imposed full control over the Al-Zabadani Commercial Bank after the Islamist rebels from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and the Free Syrian Army withdrew towards the downtown area in order to regroup.

The Islamist rebel factions are currently confined to a small patch of territory in Al-Zabadani, as the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance continue to inch closer to the complete capture of this city in the Rif Dimashq’s Governorate’s western countryside.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Islamist rebels have been pushing for another ceasefire in Al-Zabadani; however, the terms for the agreement have not been accepted, despite repeated attempts by Iran and Turkey to facilitate the forestallment of violence inside the city’s parameters.