After 28 months of losing it by a sudden and violent attack, the regime forces and their allies almost control Abu Dhuhur air base
About 150 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen are within 350 people killed during 10 days of military operations in Abu Dhuhur air base
The SOHR learned that the regime forces backed by their allied militiamen of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities and under a cover of Russian warplanes, their warplanes and helicopters managed to advance, enter and almost completely control Abu Dhuhur air base following heavy shelling targeting the air base and its vicinity, forcing Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham and their supporting factions to withdraw from the air base while violent clashes are taking place in the western part of the air base, which the regime forces lost their control over it in the 1st third of September 2015, following a sudden attack by Hayaat Tahir Al-Sham and the factions in the area, making use of the bad weather and sand storm that hit the province of Idlib at that time, where the regime forces lost their last positions in the province of Idlib, and at that time they only controlled the towns of Kafria and Foua, which are mostly inhabited by Shiite people, and controlled by the National Defense Forces and Popular Committees. It is noteworthy that Abu Dhuhur has been besieged for more than 2 years by Nusra Front and the Islamic factions until they controlled it in 2015, and the air base was out of services and the regime forces stationed there and the warplanes were not able to implement any military operation out of it.
These clashes, which are taking place in the air base located in the eastern countryside of Idlib and the outskirts of the southern countryside of Aleppo, were accompanied by explosions that rocked the area as a result of ongoing artillery and missile shelling on the area and shelling by warplanes on the vicinity of the air base. The area also witnessed at least one suicide bombing, amid rebel attacks in the area aiming at advancing and leaving human losses in the ranks of the regime forces and their allied militiamen.
The regime forces used heavy fire during their advancement, through escalating of ongoing shelling of Russian and regime warplanes and shelling of tanks, artillery and mortar shells and missile shells and missiles, believed to be ground to ground. The SOHR documented the death of at least 354 people, the death toll of members of the regime forces and the factions, who have been killed since Wednesday evening, the 10th of January, 2018. It also rose to at least 145, the number of members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, including 17 officers, including 3 colonels, one of them is close to Suhail Al-Hassan, and it rose to at least 208 fighters of the factions, including 10 commanders at least, who were killed in the same clashes. The death toll is expected to increase due to the presence of injured persons in serious conditions, and the factions managed to capture 35 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen, in addition to tens of members of Turkestan Islamic Movement, who were also killed in the latest battles during the past days.