On Christmas day in the Aleppo Governorate’s northern countryside, the Islamist rebels from Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen launched a massive assault on the National Defense Forces (NDF) frontline positions at the village of Bashkoy in order to build a large buffer-zone around their main supply route from Turkey to the provincial capital.

Initially, Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen were successful, capturing several points outside of the village and inside its eastern flank; however, their success did not last long as the Syrian Armed Forces eventually forestalled the Islamist advance and pushed back the encroaching enemy combatants attempting to infiltrate into Bashkoy’s residential area.

According to a military source inside of Bashkoy, the National Defense Forces and Kataebat Al-Ba’ath (Al-Ba’ath Battalions) killed over 25 enemy combatants from Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen, including “Abu Waheed Shami”, “Abu Al-Bara’a”, Mohammad Al-Homsi, “Abu ‘Utayba”, “Abu Malek”, “Abu Hussam”, “Abu Al-Jabbar ‘Abdel-Rahman”, and “Abu ‘Abdullah Al-Rustom”.

In addition to losing over 25 enemy combatants, Jabhat Al-Nusra and Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen also lost 7 armored vehicles that were mounted with a variety of anti-aircraft machine guns; this arsenal also included two tanks that were destroyed by the Syrian Armed Forces before nightfall on Christmas day.

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Leith Aboufadel
Editor-in-Chief Specializing in Near Eastern Affairs and Economics.

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