Homs: ISIL Begins Withdrawal from Jabal Al-Sha’ar; NDF Ambush Al-Nusra in the North

after months of fighting at Jabal Al-Sha’ar (Poet Mountains) in east Homs, ISIL has begun to withdraw their forces from this area; this is likely due to the need of fighters on other fronts.

The Syrian Arab Army’s 18th Tank Brigade and the “Tiger Forces” – a special forces (Al-Qawat Al-Khassa) unit in the SAA) – secured the T-4 Airbase, all the oil wells at the Al-Sha’ar Gas Fields, and the majority of the villages surrounding the latter.

On early Monday morning, the National Defense Forces (NDF) laid a successful ambush on a large group of militants from the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda “Jabhat Al-Nusra” (Al-Nusra Front), killing over 30 enemy combatants and wounding another 40 plus fighters.

The ambush was planned on the road leading to the village of Kafr Naan in northern Homs; this area has recently escalated in violence after the militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra attempted to launch a small offensive on the border of Hama.