It was a long night in Jabal Al-Eiss for both the Syrian Armed Forces and the Islamist rebels from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham as they battled for this strategic town located 5km east of the Damascus-Aleppo Highway (M-5).
With Jabal Al-Eiss about to fall to the Syrian Armed Forces, Iraqi/Iranian paramilitary units, and Hezbollah, the Islamist rebels from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham made a desperate plea for reinforcements to help push back the encroaching enemy combatants; however, this proved too little too late as the pro-government forces overpowered them and seized this integral town.
Following the loss of Jabal Al-Eiss to the pro-government forces, the Islamist rebels from Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and Harakat Nouriddeen Al-Zinki suffered another loss; this time, it was the small hilltop village of Tal Bajjar, which is located just south of Jabal Al-Eiss and southwest of the strategic city of Al-Hadher.
According to a military correspondent on the ground with the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division, the Syrian Armed Forces, Hezbollah, and their Iraqi/Iranian allies have taken control of 341 square kilometers of territory since early October in southern Aleppo.
As a result of their success in southern Aleppo, the Syrian Armed Forces and their allies have paved the way for their reentry into the Idlib Governorate; this same province that they were forced to withdraw from over the summer.
