Ongoing fighting in the southern countryside of Aleppo resulted from the new advancement of the regime forces and their allies

Aleppo province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:: clashes have been taking place again between the regime forces and their allied militiamen of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities against fighters of Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham and its supporting factions in areas in the southern countryside of Aleppo, where the regime forces are trying to advance and close the first pocket, of which they are about to fully besieged and that includes tens of villages controlled by the Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham and the “Islamic State” organization, in the countryside of Idlib, Hama and Aleppo, which are adjacent to each other.

The SOHR published day before yesterday that the regime forces backed by their allies of the Lebanese Hezbollah, the Revolutionary Iranian Guards, and the armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, are continuing their military operations against Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the factions operating with it in the southern countryside of Aleppo and the eastern countryside of Idlib, with the continuation of their operation which they started in the eastern section of Idlib countryside on the 25th of December 2017, as well as their operation which they escalated in the southern countryside of Aleppo on the 10th of January 2018.

The regime forces and their allies led by Suhail Al-Hassan use the same tactic which the Brigadier known as the “Tiger”, used in his operations against the “Islamic State” organization from the eastern countryside of Aleppo to Deir Ezzor passing by Palmyra and the eastern countryside of Homs, in terms of depending on tearing apart the controlled areas on his opponents of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the rebel and Islamic factions, through taking the control of the villages and the areas which Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham withdrew from, under the violent rocket, artillery and aerial strikes which target the areas of the regime and their allies’ advancement, which cost Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham a loss of more than 250 villages and town until now, including about 148 villages in the southern countryside of Aleppo, in conjunction with their operations in the north-east of Hama which was the least front within the three adjacent provinces, in terms of the advancement inside its territory.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored this advancement, as after the regime forces reached the walls of Abu Al-Duhur Military Airbase, -which was the last military base lost by the regime forces in Idlib in the first third of September 2015, after a violent attack by Al-Nusra Front (Al Qaeda in the Levant) and its supporting factions on the airbase and taking the control of it- and after the factions sent the regime forces away the airbase again and then regaining the control of about 20 villages, and turning Idlib clashes into hit-and-run clashes through which the factions returned to stop the regime’s advancement towards the airbase, the regime forces resumed their clashes which failed earlier in the southern countryside of Aleppo, and the regime forces achieved advancement in the areas of Khanasir and Tal al-Daman, and reached at a distance of hundreds of meters from their forces located east of Abu Al-Duhur Military Airbase, thus, they become close to encircle Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the organization in about 85 villages in the southern countryside of Aleppo, the eastern countryside of Hama and the eastern countryside of Idlib.