The conglomerate of Al-Qaeda affiliates that form “Jaysh Al-Fateh” (Army of Conquest) launched an offensive to capture Fawru in the Al-Ghaab Plains on Sunday, attacking the National Defense Forces (NDF) northern flank on the border of the strategically located city of Al-Simaniyah.
This surprise offensive was led by Jaysh Al-Fateh’s two largest forces – Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” – who achieved initial success at the Al-Sirmaniyah-Fawru axis, entering this town from its northern border after fierce clashes with the National Defense Forces on Sunday morning.
However, as the firefights between the National Defense Forces and Jaysh Al-Fateh intensified on Monday, the aforementioned Islamist militants were unable to maintain their ground, resulting in their eventual withdrawal before nightfall.
Around 8 P.M. (Damascus Time), the Syrian Armed Forces had declared the town of Fawru fully under their control after they killed a total of 23 enemy combatants from the militant groups in Jaysh Al-Fateh, including a number of foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia and Chechnya.
Meanwhile, at the northeastern countryside of the Al-Ghaab Plains, the Syrian Arab Army’s “Tiger Forces” – in coordination with the 87th Brigade of the 11th Tank Division, the 45th Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, and Liwaa Al-Assoud Al-Jabal (Lions of the Mountain Brigade) – continued their large-scale offensive to recapture the strategically located town of Frikka.
According to a military source in Mhardeh, the Syrian Armed Forces pounded the Islamist rebels with mortar shells and rockets at the southern axis of Frikka, Tal Sheikh Khattab, Kufayr, Qastoun, and Mushayrifah in preparation for the second phase of their offensive that includes the recapture of the aforementioned sites.