Rebel fighters launched a major offensive against ISIS positions in northern rural Aleppo on Thursday, capturing the villages of Mazra’a and Al-Khurba and the Gas Factory east of Azaz.
Rebel fighters took control Al-Ziyara and Al-Khadraa’ hilltops in the Turkmen Mountain area in rural Latakia after fierce clashes with regime forces. They also targeted the presidential palace in the town of Slinfah with Grad missiles, reportedly achieving direct hits.
Meanwhile, Al-Fateh Army, an assortment of rebel factions, liberated 26 regime positions in Al-Ghab plain in the offensive that began in late July. They inflicted heavy losses on regime forces, who lost around 100 armored vehicles and military trucks and nearly 375 militants including army officers, in addition to 844 militants who were injured. Rebels also captured big amounts of weapons and ammunition.
President Khoja said earlier that “having been fiercely battling the Assad regime and its allied sectarian militias for over four years, rebel factions do not need training as much as they need advanced weapons.”
“While Assad’s army is collapsing, the army of the revolution is steadily moving towards more integration, cohesion and the formation of a high military command. Assad will no doubt lose the battle if he insists on pursuing a militarily solution to the crisis.”
“We must seize this opportunity and fill the vacuum left by the regime’s withdrawal from several areas in Syria, and take the chance of having state institutions before they total collapse,” he added. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Siraj Press)
