Syria’s government forces are taking more villages from the Islamic State in East Aleppo countryside, and have now become at a stone’s throw from re-taking the group’s stronghold of al-Khafsah.

Fierce battles were reported to have taken place around the ISIS-controlled village of al-Khafsah whereby the Syrian Army succeeded to recapture several villages. One of which is Dkherah, located at the frontline with the US-backed, predominantly-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The new advance gets the Army closer to almost encircle the terror group in its bastion; which will also secure the water pumping station that feeds the entire northern city of Aleppo.

The results of the Army’ military operations in East Aleppo prove to be more than satisfying. In total, more than 850 km2 of territories have been so far liberated by the government forces since the campaign began less than 2 months ago. In addition to more than 132 villages fully recaptured. </s> On Monday morning, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) captured a new batch of villages in the eastern Aleppo countryside amid fierce clashes with ISIS militants in the region.

The advance was secured solely by the SAA’s Tiger Forces that have now imposed full control over the villages of Zarurah, Jubb al-Sultan, and Jubb al-Hamam.

Yesterday, the SAA captured a handful of villages from ISIS in the region but were mostly preoccupied with fighting off a Turkish Army assault on Tadef. The latter town is still under government control despite some reports to the contrary.

Due to today’s advance, the Tiger Forces are less than 5 kilometers from linking up with the Kurdish-led ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) near Manbij.

Both the SDF and SAA have clashed with the Euphrates Shield forces and ISIS in recent days; thus, a pragmatic alliance may be established.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Army are heavily shelling villages and towns held by the SDF in the region. Artillery strikes are ongoing on Al-Arimah and Sheikh Issa while some reports suggest the Turkish Armed Forces will soon begin an offensive to capture Manbij. </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:15 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) continued their wide-scale offensive in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, liberating three villages from the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization near Mount Salma.

Led by the Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army liberated the villages of Rasm Al-Hammam, Al-Ashayni, and Abu Judhah Al-Kabeera after a short battle with the Islamic State terrorists this afternoon.

This latest advance by the Tiger Forces this afternoon was made possible by the Syrian Arab Army’s liberation of Judhah Al-Sagheera and Al-Ra’wiyah in the northern part of the Deir Hafer Plain earlier today.

With these five villages liberated today, the Syrian Arab Army is now within striking distance of the Islamic State’s stronghold of Khafsa, which is also strategic because of its proximity to the Euphrates River. </s> Rate Article (4.5 / 4)

BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:00 P.M.) – Following the capture of Al-Khafsah town earlier in the day, the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) swept through a large ISIS enclave near the Euphrates River in the eastern Aleppo countryside on Tuesday.

After a massive last-minute ISIS withdrawal due to an exposed salient, the SAA’s Tiger Forces were able to capture 23 villages in just a few hours, namely: Abu Khattar, Rabbayah, Mazra’ah, Kharijis, Jannat as Salamah, Jannat as Saghir, Tall Abu Jadhah, Ash Sheikh Abyad, Khan al-Humr, Tall al-Aswad, Shu’ayb Hamr, Shihah, Dukhayrah, Ma’radah, Khirbat Shihab, Arb’a Kabeera, Ra’as Al-Ain, Balloura, Al-Na’eem, Asheni, Al-Tayara, Atejah, and Khafyah Sharqiyah.

According to Al-Masdar News field correspondent Ibrahim Joudeh, ISIS militants were overwhelmed by the unprecedented SAA advances and thus were not in time to booby trap the area as the terror group usually does prior to retreating.

Since the Tiger Forces began their large-scale eastern Aleppo offensive on January 17th, the SAA has wrestled control of some 145 villages and reduced the self-proclaimed caliphate’s territory by over 1000 square kilometers.

ISIS has now set up a last-ditch defensive line along axis between Deir Hafer and Jirah Airbase. The area is manned by militants that retreated from Al-Bab two weeks ago and jihadist units regrouping from the abandoned pocket.

Should the SAA smash through the Islamic State’s final line of defense in Aleppo, Syrian government troops are expected to restart their offensive towards Raqqa.

Advertisements </s> The Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces today continued their rapid advancement against ISIS by capturing 3 villages from the terrorist group in eastern Aleppo countryside.

The Syrian Army liberated the villages of Taiha, Halisiyah and Amoudiyah and are currently storming Um Mayal, which is expected to become ISIS-free within the day.

Meanwhile, Turkish-backed forces have attacked the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces-held towns and captured Kiridyah and Jablat Al-Hamra in south-west Manbij countryside from the militia.

Military sources in speaking with Al-Masdar News said that despite Turkish-led forces claiming that they captured Sukariyah Kabirah and Sukariyah Saghirahin, this is not true and the two towns are largely contested and empty from both sides.

Today the Syrian Army shelled turkish-led forces who tried to enter these towns, forcing them to retreat.

Both towns remain empty from the two competing armies. </s> “Nine villages were seized from ISIS on Monday as the Kurdish-led ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) reopened the Manbij front and pushed southwards along the Euphrates River. With ISIS struggling to hold ground in the region, Kurdish forward units took control over the villages of Jurunli, Mahunah, Haymar al-Jays, Judayat al-Faras, Turaykiyat al-Humr, Qibab Kabir, Qibab Saghir, Sakhanah and Arudah with relative ease just hours after the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) also advanced nearby, thus cutting off the frontline territory between ISIS and the Turkish Armed Forces. 



A military source informed Al-Masdar News that the SDF and Manbij Military Council are keen to take control of Al-Khafsa – this town has been fortified by ISIS militants after reaching a frontline stalemate in August 2016 following the liberation of Manbij city.

Remarkably, there are credible reports which indicate cooperation between the SDF and SAA; the latter provided artillery support for the advancing Kurdish forces. The Russian Air Force was also operational in eastern Aleppo tonight, pulverizing a number of Islamic State gun positions.

Earlier today, SDF reinforcements and US military advisors arrived to Manbij. These forces are now spearheading the offensive. A new batch of armored vehicles and technicals were also provided to the SDF.

Al-Khafsa is strategically important as it supplies the provincial capital of Aleppo with water; recently, this facility was shut down by ISIS while the latter flooded some government-held villages in the region. With heavy clashes ongoing on the near perimeter of Al-Khafsa, the town is expected to fall either overnight or tomorrow.” (Al Masdar News)

The last 48 hours have seen a rash of activity east of Aleppo. The SAA’s Tiger Forces raced forward to link up with the YPG south of Manbij on the heels of a large scale tactical withdrawal of IS forces from the al-Bab area. This linkup has put the kibosh on Turkey’s plans to advance towards Raqqa. I wonder if this linkup was anything like that Spring day in April, 1945 near Torgau on the Elbe?

Erdogan has declared that he now intends to take Manbij. Fat chance of that happening. Both FSA and Turkish forces took it on the chin during their assault on al-Bab. Taking on the YPG and Manbij Military Council forces will be a bridge too far, especially since the Kurds have the support of U.S. Special Forces and U.S. airpower.

My guess is the Russians and the SAA have been coordinating this with the YPG for quite some time. They will probably be working together more and more as they roll towards Tabqa and Raqqa. In addition to this military cooperation, the YPG and SAA have already opened up a trade route to secure safe passage of goods and supply trucks. I’m very glad to see this, but at some point the Tiger Forces are going to have to turn their attention to Idlib. Will it be before or after the fall of Raqqa?

I still have a fear that the U.S. wants to create a space for anti-Assad forces in the YPG/SDF controlled area. That would be a stupid, stupid idea. We should largely leave the area to the Kurds and Syrians as soon as we possibly can. Leaving just a few SF teams there, with the permission of the Syrian government would be ideal. They could do a lot in improving our relationship with Syria, Russia and even Iran. I hope McMaster is thinking that far ahead. Of course, Erdogan is likely to pitch such a fit he’s liable to give himself an aneurism. </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:45 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) capture of Khan Sheikhoun last Thursday proved to be the nail in the coffin for the militant forces in northern Hama, as just one day later, the military’s high command announced full control over the once militant-held pocket.

Despite claims by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham about defending their northern Hama pocket at all costs, the jihadist group ultimately succumbed to the pressure and fled the pocket before being completely encircled by the Syrian Arab Army.

According to a military source in the area, some militants chose to stay back and try to fend off the Syrian Arab Army attack; however, they ultimately gave us their fight by either surrendering to the military or fleeing to the Turkish observation post at Morek.

As a result of this advance by the Syrian Army, they were able to fully secure their two strongholds, Mhardeh and Al-Sqaylabiyeh, which were constantly targeted by the militants in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate.

With this region captured, the Syrian Arab Army has two choices: attack Ma’arat Al-Nu’man to the north or the Al-Ghaab Plain to the northwest. </s> Dozens of residents reported dead in clashes between government forces and ISIL fighters in villages near Hama city.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has attacked villages near the only useable road that links the government-controlled cities of Aleppo and Homs, killing many residents, according to Syrian state media and a Britain-based war monitor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 52 people, civilians and fighters on both sides, were killed and dozens injured in Thursday's incidents.

At least 15 were civilians, including five children, and three of them died in execution-style killings, it said.

State-run SANA news agency said that ISIL fighters killed 20 people in the village of Aqarib al-Safi, east of Hama city, before the army and allied militia repulsed the attack.

The SOHR said ISIL, also known as ISIS, seized Aqarib al-Safi and parts of the nearby village of al-Mabouja as clashes raged on.

ISIL said on social media they had captured Aqarib al-Safi.

Also on Thursday, the US military carried out an air strike against the Syrian pro-government fighters that posed a threat to US-backed fighters in the country's south, US officials told Reuters news agency.

The US official said on Thursday, the strikes near the town of At Tanf destroyed at least one tank and a bulldozer, and another said it followed warning shots by US aircraft meant to dissuade the fighters from advancing further.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In another Syria-related development, a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has seized 350sq km over the past week in Syria's Raqqa province, "tightening their noose" on ISIL in an advance to isolate its base of operations, a spokesman for a US-led coalition said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been encircling Raqqa, ISIL's self-proclaimed capital in Syria, since November. Last week, its fighters accomplished a major goal by capturing Tabqa, a previously ISIL-held town about 50km west of Raqqa, and a strategic dam nearby.

About 3,000 to 4,000 ISIL fighters are thought to be holed up in Raqqa city where they continue to erect defences against the anticipated assault, Colonel Ryan Dillon told Reuters news agency in a phone interview from Iraq's capital, Baghdad.

"In the last week, the SDF have tightened their noose around ISIL in the northern and eastern and western part of Raqqa," Dillon said.

Syria's civil war began in 2011 after mass protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad and has killed hundreds of thousands of people, driven half the country's population from their homes and dragged in world powers. </s> The Syrian government has reached an evacuation deal with fighters from Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to leave the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus.

The official SANA news agency announced on Monday that the fighters and their families, numbering about 5,000, would be evacuated in two stages, the first of which would see 1,500 people transported to the rebel-controlled Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The deal is part of a wider agreement between HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, and President Bashar al-Assad's government to surrender heavy and medium military hardware.

Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said the rebel group had to concede to government demands of releasing prisoners and allowing thousands of Syrians from the besieged loyalist towns of Kefraya and Foua to head for government-controlled territory.

SANA reported that these include 85 prisoners, "mostly women, children and elderly", from the rebel-controlled town of Eshtabraq.

"Pro-government forces have long wanted to fully evacuate the predominately Shia towns because that would deny the rebels the ability to pressure Damascus by threatening to target them," she said.

Buses to transport the rebels and their relatives have already begun gathering around Yarmouk near midnight, local news media reported.

Khodr said this was the fourth such agreement in recent weeks and constituted another important win for government forces and their allies.

"Rebels have already surrendered Eastern Ghouta, which was their main stronghold close to the capital, and a pocket of territory in the Qalamoun region, northeast of Damascus," she said.

"In a few days, rebel factions linked to the Free Syrian Army are expected to hand over the districts of Babbila, Beit Sahm and Yalda in southern Damascus in order to stave off a military operation".

Nevertheless, this falls short of securing the entirety of southern Damascus, with a few pockets of territory still under control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

Government forces have been involved in a two-week-long offensive to recapture the territory, but ISIL units have put up fierce resistance in areas where heavy weapons have proven to be of limited use.
The Syrian Army captures at least 23 villages in North East Aleppo Governorate from ISIL in a matter of hours after an ISIL withdrawal caused by the SAA capturing Al-Khafsah.