Syrian Army and Hezbollah Get Off to a Wild Start in Southern Aleppo: Several Sites Captured

On Friday morning, the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division – in coordination with Hezbollah, the National Defense Forces (NDF), Kataebat Al-Ba’ath (Al-Ba’ath Battalions), and Iraqi Shi’i militiamen – launched a wide-scale offensive inside the Aleppo Governorate’s southern countryside, targeting the western hills of the Azzan Mountains that were under the control of Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, Liwaa Suqour Al-Sham, and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra.”

The offensive got off to a shockingly fast start in southern Aleppo, as the Syrian Armed Forces and the Lebanese Resistance took control of four sites before 10 A.M. (Damascus Time) on Friday morning; these aforementioned sites were the following: Qala’at Najam, ‘Abtayn, Al-Wadihi, and the Aleppo Defense Battalion Base.

Following their initial success in southern Aleppo, the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance intensified their assault on the Islamist rebel factions in the Azzan Mountains, killing scores of enemy combatants and destroying two mounted machine guns before taking full control of Al-Sabaqiyah, Hadadeen, Madajin Zeitouneh, and Thaknah Al-Kabdar.

Not long after the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance took control of the aforementioned villages in southern Aleppo, the Russian Air Force reappeared to strike a number of Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham targets inside the town of Al-Mansoura in the provincial capital’s western countryside.

According to Syrian Opposition social media activists, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and Liwaa Suqour Al-Sham recaptured Al-Sabawiyah, Hadadeen, and the Defense Battalion Base; however, no proof was provided to back these claims and the field reports from the Syrian Arab Army indicated that the aforementioned sites were still under their control.