Syrian Army, Allies Ready to Launch Large-Scale Operation to Free Khan Touman

“Thousands of fresh soldiers and a large number of the Iraqi and Lebanese Hezbollah, deployed near the small town of Homeireh, are ready to launch a joint large-scale anti-terrorism operation to drive the terrorist groups back from the positions they captured on Thursday inside and outside the town of Kahn Touman,” the sources said.

“Bad climate has been the main cause delaying the pro-government forces’ operation in Kahn Touman,” the sources added.

“Nearly 8,000 terrorists, supplied with advanced weapons coming from Turkey and Idlib province, are in the opposite front,” the sources went on to say.

“The Syrian military forces, backed up by the Russian and Syrian fighter jets, carried out several attacks on the first defense lines of the terrorist groups near the town of Mer’ateh, the region of Abu Reil and the height of al-Bastawi to gain better over-looking positions in the battlefield,” they said.

“The Hezbollah fighters and al-Fatemiyoun brigade, for their part, stormed the terrorist groups’ strongholds in Mer’ateh, Abu Reil and al-Bastawi and killed at least 30 of Ahrar al-Sham members,” the sources said, adding, “The Russian warplanes in separate combat flights bombed heavily the positions of the terrorist groups in al-Eis, al-Zarbeh and Khan Touman to pave the ground for the imminent ground operation of the Syrian government forces in Kahn Touman.”

In relevant development on Saturday, the Syrian Army announced that thousands of fresh forces were dispatched to the Southern territories of Aleppo province to take part in the government forces’ large-scale anti-terrorism operation in Khan Touman region.

“Thousands of fresh but experienced forces have been dispatched to the Southern part of Aleppo province and thousands more will also be sent the battlefield to support the operating forces,” the army said.

“The Syrian and Russian warplane have been heavily bombing the terrorists’ newly-captured positions in Khan Touman region in the past hours and now the ground is paved for a final operation to push the militants back from the region,” the army added.

“A large number of popular forces will also accompany the army men in the operation,” the army underlined.

Reports said also on Saturday that the Syrian and Russian fighter jets, in a fresh round of large-scale joint combat operations, bombed heavily the terrorist groups’ concentration centers in the Southern parts of Aleppo province to lay the ground for the imminent operation of the government forces in Khan Touman region.

Almost the entire positions of the terrorist groups of al-Nusra Front, Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham inside and outside of Khan Touman were massively bombed by a large number of the Syrian and Russian warplanes.

The airstrikes inflicted major damage on the terrorists’ military and logistic vehicle.

Tens of the terrorists were also killed in the air attacks.

The air attacks also destroyed supply and commination lines of the terrorist groups in the region, which have pave the way for the pro-government forces to carry out a large-scale operation there to return security to Khan Touman and its surroundings as soon as possible.

The Al-Nusra and units of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claim to have taken back Khan Touman, but government forces say they are still in charge of key centers and blocks in the town.

The Syrian army alongside the National Defense Forces and Hezbollah fighters regained full control over the town of Khan Touman in December. Ever since then the city has fallen back to the terrorists twice, with the second time being this weekend.

Following an unsuccessful truce that was repeatedly violated by the terrorist groups, the Al-Nusra Front – the Syria arm of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group – could relocate some 20,000 terrorists to Northern Aleppo via Turkey’s soil to launch a large-scale attack on pro-government positions in several key cities in Aleppo province, including Khan Touman in the Southwest.