On Monday morning, Hezbollah – in coordination with the Syrian Arab Army’s 20th and 128th Brigades of the 1st Armored Division – clashed with the militants from the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” at the strategic mountaintop of Tal Thaljah, where the latter attempted a counter-assault to retake the territory lost to the Lebanese Resistance and the Syrian Armed Forces.
However, the assault did not work out in Jabhat Al-Nusra’s favor, as Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces were able to withstand the onslaught and forestall the enemy’s advance, resulting in their own counter-attack at Tal Thaljah just moments after the armed militants withdrew from the western perimeter of the mountaintop.
Now on the offensive, Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces did not waste time carrying out the counter-assault on Jabhat Al-Nusra; this counter-attack resulted in the Lebanese Resistance and the Syrian Armed Forces taking full control of the western hills of Tal Thaljah before Jabhat Al-Nusra was forced to completely withdrawal to the steep mountains to the north.
Jabhat Al-Nusra is struggling to maintain their ground in the Qalamoun Mountains after the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah captured the imperative mountaintop at Tal Al-Moussa, leaving the Syrian Al-Qaeda group in poor position to mount a counter-offensive to reclaim their lost territory.
With the Syrian part of the Qalamoun Mountains almost fully captured, the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah will shift their focus to the Al-Zabadani District (south of the Qalamoun Mountains), where the Syrian Arab Army’s 13th Brigade of the 1st Armored Division is currently combatting Jabhat Al-Nusra and Suqour Al-Zabadani for control of this strategic mountain area.
