For the last four days, the conglomerate of Islamist factions known as “Jaysh Al-Fateh” have indiscriminately launched over 600 mortar shells into the predominately Shi’i towns of Al-Fou’aa and Kafraya, killing a dozen civilians and wounding over 70 others as a result of this cruel reprisal for the Syrian Armed Forces’ recent offensive in Al-Zabadani.
Isolated and surrounded, the National Defense Forces’ (NDF) fighters protecting these two towns have had enough, they carried out their own operation at the eastern perimeter of Al-Fou’aa, where they sought to eliminate the lingering threat posed by Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” in the vicinity of Al-Fou’aa and Kafraya.
This assault on the checkpoint leading to the rebel stronghold of Binnish was properly executed by the civilian-led National Defense Forces on Tuesday morning; however, the Syrian Armed Forces suffered 6 casualties as a result of this unorthodox offensive to build a buffer-zone around the towns of Al-Fou’aa and Kafraya.
Meanwhile, at the northern perimeter of Kafraya, the Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham combatants resumed their relentless array of mortar shells and hellfire cannons into the residential areas of this town.
According to a statement issued by Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham fighters: this unjust assault on the civilian populous of Al-Fou’aa and Kafraya is directly related to the Syrian Armed Forces’ assault on the civilian populous in Al-Zabadani.
However, further research suggests that there are less than 200 civilians left inside this once prosperous city in west Rif Dimashq.