The 48 hour ceasefire between the Syrian Arab Army/Hezbollah and the Islamist rebel factions in the resort-city of Al-Zabadani is now over and the battle for this strategic area has restarted.

However, as the same players continue their fight in Al-Zabadani, a new Islamist group has announced its participation in this battle and their endeavor to recapture the lost territory that was seized by the Syrian Arab Army’s 63rd Brigade of the prestigious 4th Mechanized Division and Hezbollah.

The Islamist group “Jaysh Al-Islam” (Army of Islam) – led by Zahran Alloush – has announced their counter-offensive to recapture a number of strategic points in Al-Zabadani after 85 percent of this has fallen under the control of Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces.

This will not be an easy task for Jaysh Al-Islam, as Hezbollah and the Syrian Armed Forces are well-equipped and well-positioned to complete their objective, which is to capture the city and leave no Islamist rebel presence in Al-Zabadani.

Jaysh Al-Islam will rely on the vast tunnels that stretch from the town of Madaya to Al-Zabadani in order to launch their counter-offensive against the joint forces of the SAA’s 63rd Brigade and Hezbollah.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah do not view the announcement as a legitimate threat due to the fact the Islamist rebels are poorly positioned inside the Mahata District of Al-Zabadani.

Share this article:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
ALSO READ  Syrian President visits areas devastated by forest fires, meets with locals

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Notice: All comments represent the view of the commenter and not necessarily the views of AMN.

All comments that are not spam or wholly inappropriate are approved, we do not sort out opinions or points of view that are different from ours.

Be Civil

This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion

Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.

These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.

Make it better

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

Now the hard part!

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

  • Name-calling
  • Ad hominem attacks
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
  • Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.