It took them 38 days, but the Syrian Arab Army’s 63rd Brigade of the prestigious 4th Mechanized Division – in coordination with Hezbollah, the National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) – finally captured the city-center of Al-Zabadani after taking over the remaining building blocks that surround the Imam ‘Ali Mosque.
The capture of the Imam ‘Ali Mosque on Monday paved the way for Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces to secure the building blocks surrounding this religious center, while also giving them access to the road leading to the imperative Al-Mahata Roundabout.
While the success at the city-center of Al-Zabadani is good news for the Lebanese Resistance and the Syrian Armed Forces, they still have a lot of fighting left to go, as Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, the Free Syrian Army’s “Al-Zabadani Hawks Brigade” and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” remain entrenched around the Al-Mahata Roundabout and most of the Al-Mahata District.
If Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces can break-through Jabhat Al-Nusra and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham’s frontline defenses at the Al-Mahata Roundabout, they will have full access to the latter’s hideouts at the outskirts of the downtown area.
According to a military source in Damascus, Tuesday was one of the bloodiest days for Jabhat Al-Nusra and their allies, as the field source estimated that as many as 30 enemy combatants were killed during the Hezbollah/SAA assault on Tuesday.
