In one of the hardest blows to regime forces delivered recently, Jaish Alislam fighters shot down earlier today a regime Sukhoi-22 airplane in the eastern Qalmoun area of rural Damascus. Jaish Alislam, the biggest rebel group in Damascus and its suburbs, published videos and photos showing the wreckage of the airplane and the pilot who was captured alive. The warplane is the third to be shot down by Jaish Alislam rebel group in less than a week.
In northwestern Syria, fighters of the Free Syrian Army and rebel groups recaptured at dawn today the strategic town of Kinsabba, the Sheikh Yusuf hill, and Shallif hill in Alakrad Mount in rural Latakia. The recapture of these strategic areas came just a few days after rebel and FSA fighters had announced the launch of a major offensive to recapture the areas they previously lost to regime forces in rural Latakia.
The strategic importance of the town of Kinsabba lies in its location on a hillside overlooking Aleppo-Latakia road, the main rebels’ supply route in northern rural Latakia. Kinsabba is also the gateway to Alakrad Mount. Regime forces that were positioned in the town used to bombard the rebel-held areas in the provinces of Idlib, Latakia and Hama.
The villages of Ain Alqantara, Ard Alwata, Alhaqoura, Almazghala, Abu Asaad Hill, Rasha hill and Nahshaba in Alakrad Mount were also recaptured in the offensive.
The Syrian Coalition hailed the spectacular advances made by the FSA and rebel groups all across Syria, especially in the provinces of Latakia, Aleppo and Damascus. The Coalition highly praised the “absolute determination and resolve shown by the FSA and rebels groups in the battle against the Assad regime for over five years.” Those brave men continue to fight the Assad regime and its allies with a determination that has never waned despite the lack of support and the international community’s inaction to protect Syrian civilians, the Coalition added.
The Coalition stressed the need for supporting the FSA and rebel fighters as the only way to root out terrorism in Syria represented by the Assad regime, the foreign militias fighting alongside it, and terrorist groups like ISIS, whose militants were expelled from Aleppo in early 2014 by the FSA. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
