Hezbollah’s Elite and Tiger Groups advance towards the last town controlled by “Islamic State” organization in Aleppo Province and violent clashes in its outskirts

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that violent clashes are taking place between regime forces backed by militiamen loyal to them and Lebanese Hezbollah’s Elite Forces against members of “Islamic State” organization in areas in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the violent clashes take place in the outskirts of Maskanah town, after regime forces’ advance towards the town from different areas, where the clashes are less than 4 km away of Maskanah town, which is the last town controlled by “Islamic State” organization, where the regime forces are seeking to control the town and reduce the size of areas controlled by the organization.
This advancement comes in conjunction with intense and violent airstrikes by warplanes, where more than 110 airstrikes were carried out in the framework of the military operation launched by the regime forces on the 17th of January 2017 led by Tiger Groups which are led by the Brigadier in the regime forces Suhail al-Hassan, and controlled tens of villages, towns and farms in the northeastern and eastern countryside of Aleppo, most notably Deir Hafer, al-Khafsah, al-Mahdoum, Aran and al-Jarrah airbase, and were able to reach the outskirts of the last town controlled by “Islamic State” organization in Aleppo province, Maskanah town, which is 15 km away from the administrative border of Raqqa province.