Significant battlefield progress is underway in the eastern Aleppo countryside as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) wrestled control of a handful of villages from ISIS earlier today.
Spearheaded by the Tiger Forces, Syrian troops managed to impose full control over five villages on Saturday; namely Al-Atawyah, Al-Fathiyah, Qasr Hadleh, Abou Jadha Saghir, and Al-Qitah Al-Sharqiyah. The latter was seized minutes ago.
Over the past week alone, the SAA has destroyed ten VBIED’s (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices), six of which were driven by ISIS suicide bombers according to Al-Masdar News field correspondent Ibrahim Joudeh.
In addition, an estimated 400 roadside bombs have been dismantled by government sappers in newly liberated areas while 20 jihadist technicals and 4 fuel trucks were destroyed during recent clashes with ISIS fighters.
Notably, the vanguard of the Tiger Forces have reached forward positions little more than four kilometers from Deir Hafer, the last ISIS-held city in Aleppo province, in what appears to be an ongoing outflanking manuever.
Since launching a large-scale offensive on February 12, the SAA has captured over 100 villages from ISIS in the region. Notably, this advance has cutoff Turkey from advancing deeper into Aleppo province and linked up the government mainland with a largely autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria.
Furthermore, the Tiger Forces are 14 kilometers from reaching the town of Al-Khafsa which houses the main water facility supplying the entire governorate of Aleppo.
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