The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Battles of Hama countryside end the second week with the displacement of more than 40 thousand civilians and more than 500 airstrikes and the death of about 110 fighters and members of the factions and the regime

The military operations continue in the northeastern countryside of Hama for the second week, since the regime forces began on the 22nd of October a preliminary ground operation, which has started two days later, to ignite the fighting in new front between the regime forces backed by their allied militiamen against Hayaat Tahir Al-Sham and Jaysh Al-Izza and the rebel and Islamic factions, where the SOHR monitored violent clashes is taking place since hours in the areas of Abu Dali and Al-Shakuzia, in conjunction with heavy aerial and artillery shelling following the regime forces attempt to retake control over the two villages.

These violent and ongoing clashes began after two days of preparation by the regime forces, through heavy shelling of tens of missiles and shells, and bombardment by warplanes and tens of airstrikes on the areas controlled by ISIS, located between the areas controlled by the regime forces and the areas controlled by Tahrir Al-Sham, and the regime forces amanegd to infilitrate to the areas controlled by ISIS, and reach Jub Abyad area and began on the 24th of October threir fight against Tahrir Al-Sham, where hit-and-run battles and ex exchange of control operations and counter attacks took place between both parties. These battles coincided with hundreds of airstrikes on Tahrir Al-Sham-held areas, where there was at least 500 airstrikes on villages and areas controlled by the factions and Tahrir Al-Sham.

The ongoing fighting, which lasts until today the 4th of Novemebr 2017 and has been concentrating in several main points like Abu Dali, Al-Shakuzia, and Al-Rahjan, the hometown of the Defense Minister of Bashar Al-Assad regime, Fahd Jasem Al-Farej, which became out of the control by the regime forces in the mid of July 2014, where Nusra front (Al-Qaeda organization in the Levant), cause more displacement of civilians from villages located in the northeastern countryside of Hama, where the displaced reached about 40 thousand civilians, where the clashes caused more human losses in the ranks of the regime forces, the factions and Tahrir Al-Sham, where at least 109 members and fighters were killed, including at least 46 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, and tens of both parties were injured with different degrees of severity, and the regime forces managed through these operations to control the village of Al-shahtaya, Joeyad, and Jub Abyad, and there is information about an attack, through which they failed to advance and maintain the sites they advanced to in the northeastern countryside of Hama.