The Free Syrian Army groups repelled attempts by regime forces to advance on the Air Defense Battalion east of the Manshiya district of Dara’a city. Spokesman for the FSA Albunyan Almarsous operations room Abu Shaima Abazid said that the FSA fighters killed 10 pro-regime militants and captured 4 others as well as destroyed two tanks and captured on another, a bulldozer, an armored vehicle, and ammunition on Tuesday.
Abu Shaima pointed out that Hezbollah militias and militants of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps are fighting alongside regime forces in the ongoing onslaught on Dara’a province. Pro-regime forces on Tuesday briefly overran parts of the Air Defense Battalion before being pushed back by the FSA groups.
The regime attack on the Battalion is aimed at cutting off the road linking the western and eastern countryside of Dara’a. The old bordering crossing with Jordan will be exposed to regime direct fire should they succeed in capturing the Battalion, Abazid added.
The Assad regime is most likely exploiting the 48-hour truce announced in Dara’a to prepare for a new attack on the Battalion, Abazid said. The Assad regime’s presence in Dara’a city is now limited to the district of Sijna and only five percent of the Manshiya district. Preparations for new operations are underway to end any regime presence in Dara’a city, Abazid added.
Regime forces and their allied foreign militias have so far lost no fewer than 250 militants, including 100 Iranian officers and advisers since the start of the battle for Manshiya. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
