Syria: Popular Forces Seize Jeish al-Fath’s Tank, Armored Vehicle

The resistance forces defending the Shiite towns in Idlib managed to capture a tank and armored vehicle of the Jeish al-Fath terrorist group, a coalition of 13 terrorist groups led by Al-Nusra Front militant group.

The popular forces’ attack came in response to Jeish al-Fath’s attacks on their military positions and checkpoints in al-Savaqieh region.

Last week, the Syrian army strongly rejected media reports that the Southeastern parts of the town of Fuaa have fallen to the hand of the Takfiri terrorists.

The army’s rejection came after some pro-West media outlets claimed that the foreign-backed militants had captured key areas in Southeastern Fuaa.

The Syrian military sources said that fierce clashes are going on between the Syrian forces and the terrorist groups in the outskirts of Fuaa and Kafraya towns in Idlib province, but the militants have failed to capture any part of Fuaa.

Since July, the Syrian popular defense forces have repeatedly repelled the Takfiri terrorists’ attacks on two Fuaa and Kafraya towns, and inflicted heavy damage and casualties on the militants.

The militants of the Jeish al-Fath terrorist group, an alliance of Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham militant groups, have repeatedly attempted to sneak into the towns of Kafraya and Fuaa, but the popular forces foiled their attack.

It is now over five months that the Jeish al-Fath terrorist group has besieged Kafraya and Fuaa.

The two Shiite-populated towns were part of a ceasefire deal between the Syrian and Hezbollah forces and the militant groups.

According to the ceasefire plan that went into effect three times, the two sides accepted to hold fire in Syria’s border region of Zabadani, where the Syrian army and Hezbollah joint troops are in control, and in Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib that were under Jeish al-Fath’s tight siege for five months now.

In a second step of the plan, the two sides would provide safe passage for enemy troops to withdraw from those regions.

But the plan failed after one of the main militant groups violated the ceasefire terms last week.

One of the representatives of the militants in the ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah and Syria blamed Turkey-backed militants for the violation of the ceasefire.

“One of the reasons that the ceasefire was violated was because Ahrar al-Sham called for complete withdrawal of the Syrian troops from the villages of Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib,” the Arabic-language Al-Watan quoted Secretary General of the Syrian Solidarity Party Mohammad Abolqassem as saying.

Then, Mohammad Abolqasem, representative of the militant groups in the ceasefire negotiations with the Syrian army in Zabadani, blamed the Ahrar al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group for the failure of ceasefire talks in the Southwestern Syrian city.

“The negotiations were about the safe pullout of the militants from Zabadani in the Western countryside of Damascus in lieu of transfer of civilians from the towns of Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib to Damascus countryside,” Abolqasem told FNA.

He reiterated that Ahrar al-Sham insisted that none of the militants of other terrorist groups fighting against the Damascus government, except Ahrar al-Sham, should be given a safe passage from Zabadani.

“Then the militants of Zabadani, who have appointed me as their spokesman in talks with the Syrian government to finalize the truce agreement, left the negotiations,” Abolqasem said.

Hours later, other Arabic-language media also said that the violation of the ceasefire in the countryside of Damascus and Idlib province had been orchestrated by the Turkish government.

The Ahrar al-Sham militant group has received orders from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to violate the ceasefire between the government and the militants in the town of Zabadani in Damascus countryside and two Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province, Al-Watan said.

Days later, the two sides agreed to cease fire once again. But the two-day-long truce ended with no tangible results on Saturday.

Then the Syrian army and Hezbollah forces started their operations to take control of al-Mazaya town in the Southern parts of Zabadani region after the third 48-hour-long ceasefire with the militants ended on Saturday and militants resumed fire.

Before the Syrian army-Hezbollah operation in Zabadani, the Ahrar al-Sham terrorist group resumed artillery fire on the two towns of Fuaa and Kafraya to declare resumption of war and end of the ceasefire.

The third 48-hour ceasefire had begun at 6a.m. Thursday in several towns in the Northwestern and Western parts of Syria along the border with Lebanon, including Zabadani.

The truce terms included ceasefire in the town of Zabadani in the countryside of Damascus and the two Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province.

The ceasefire was announced in Zabadani after the terrorists were surrounded by the Syrian army and resistance forces one and a half kilometers from the city center.