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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian rebels make gains in northern Hama province |
| 2016-08-31 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Syrian rebels have captured a strategic town in northern Hama province in a major offensive that threatens government loyalist towns populated by minority Christians and Alawites north of the bustling provincial capital, rebels and a monitor said on Tuesday. The town of Halfaya was stormed on Monday after the hardline bad boy Jund al-Aqsa alongside Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) brigades launched a battle overnight that overran several army and pro-government checkpoints in northern Hama countryside. The town, which is near a main road that links the coastal areas with the Aleppo-Damascus highway is only a few kilometers from the historic Christian town of Mahrada to the west. "We are now cleansing the town after liberating it from the regime and will have more surprises in store," said Abu Kinan, a commander in Jaish al Ezza, a rebel group that fought in the town. A rapid collapse in government defenses allowed the rebels to also take a string of villages including Buwaydah, Zalin and Masassnah. They were threatening Taybat al Imam to the east of Halfaya. The offensive brought them closer to the army stronghold of Soran, the army’s northern gateway to the city of Hama, the bustling provincial capital. A Syrian military source said The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which confirmed the fall of the town, said jets believed to be Syrian struck rebel outposts in the area, killing at least 20 rebels. The myrmidon Jund al-Aqsa group deployed jacket wallahs to storm army checkpoints. Jaish al Ezza threatened in a statement to hit the Mahrada power plant near the town, one of Syria’s largest, if civilian areas in rebel-held areas were bombed in retaliation. The rebel offensive comes after weeks of heavy Russian and Syrian army bombing of rebel controlled Hama and southern Idlib countryside that rebels say has claimed dozens of civilian lives. Syrian army offensives backed by heavy Russian air strikes to retake territory from rebels in the Hama countryside have had limited success. The latest gains will consolidate rebels who captured at the end of last year the strategic town of Morek, north of Hama city on a major north-south highway crucial to control of western Syria. |
| Posted by:Fred |