Factions operating in Sahl al-Ghab detonate bridges on Assi River linking them to regime forces’ gathering areas as part of the continuous fortifications before the announcement of the battle
Several explosions were heard on Friday morning, the 31st of August which shook Sahl al-Ghab area at the northwestern countryside of Hama, they were caused by detonating 2 bridges by the factions in the area, and in the details monitored by the Syrian Observatory: the factions blew up on dawn of today the bridge of Beit Ras which connects the factions’ areas with the regime forces’-control village of al-Jeed, in addition to detonating al-Sharia bridge which connects the factions’ controlled areas with al-Karim village which is controlled by the regime forces.
Sahl al-Ghab had witnessed similar operations during the past months and years, by detonating of several bridges by the factions and the regime forces, where detonating the bridges that link areas of control of both parties comes as part of the fortifications by the factions for their positions and points in the area to repel any possible attack by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them at any time, after the massive military reinforcements which were brought by the regime forces to Hama, Idlib, and Mountains of the coast.
The Syrian Observatory published yesterday Thursday, that as time passes and the regime forces’ military operation and the grand battle of Idlib approach, the unprecedented mobilization is continuing for a battle in which the majority of the military power operates on the Syrian land, is suggested to participate, after the control of the Syrian opposition decreased and after it was confined within large spaces of the northern countryside of Hama, Sahl Al-Ghab, areas in the north-west of Hama, parts of the northern mountains of Lattakia, the western countryside of Aleppo, and spaces of the southern countryside of Idlib, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored in the recent weeks, that the regime forces brought massive military reinforcements, represented by bringing tens of thousands of members of the forces of their army and gunmen loyal to them, and the SOHR learned from a number of intersected sources that the regime forces have deployed more than 2000 armored vehicles on the contact lines extended from the northern mountains of Lattakia to the eastern countryside of Idlib passing through Sahl Al-Ghab, the northern countryside of Hama and the south-eastern countryside of Idlib, amid intensifying the positions and guard posts, and preparing their members for a grand battle through which they aim to advance at the expense of the factions and take the control of the largest possible area.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the arrival of hundreds of fighters, as well, of the opposition factions which joined in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, the capital Damascus, and the provinces of Daraa and Al-Quneitra to the “reconciliation and settlements”, after the regime forces imposed their control over the factions’ areas, thus, the fighters of the opposition who fight previously against the regime forces, fight today in the side of the regime forces within the battle of Idlib, while the SOHR monitored that the regime forces are transferring more of their forces to the contact lines and fronts of clashes against the rebel and Islamic factions, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, and the Turkestani Islamic Party starting from the northern mountains of Latakia to southern countryside of Aleppo, and the dispatch of members is mainly focused to the fronts of the southeastern countryside of Idlib with Sahl al-Ghab, while the regime forces are transferring members of the newly recruited members to calm fronts, in conjunction with transferring their members to the contact lines in preparation for the grand battle of Idlib.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the continued movements on the contact lines between the regime forces and the factions in the west and north of Syria, where the SOHR monitored the regime forces continuing their fortifications of the fronts extended from the northern mountains of Lattakia to the south-western countryside of Aleppo, passing through the south-eastern countryside of Idlib and Sahl Al-Ghab in the north-west of Hama, where the fortifications and the deployment of the observation posts and the guards and increasing their number, are underway, as well as the continuation of distributing the members of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them and the fighters of the “reconciliation” factions, who arrived to participate in the planned grand battle, the SOHR also monitored fortifications by the factions operating in the area, as well as Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham and the Islamic Party of Turkestan, in an anticipation for a sudden attack through which the start of the grand military battle will be announced about.