BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:00 P.M.) – With the conclusion of their brilliant blitz offensive in the governonates of Aleppo and Raqqa over the course of mid-May to early-July, soldiers of the Tiger Forces’ Tarmah detachment have returned home to a hero’s welcome.
In the closing days of March of this year, the town of Qamhana came under direct threat of capture and occupation by attacking jihadist forces of the Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group. At that time, a coalition of militant groups based in Idlib comprising the aforementioned HTS, Ahrar al-Sham and Free Syrian Army (FSA) were in the midst of an major offensive to capture the strategic city of Hama.
At Qamhana, the elite Tiger Forces and 4th Mechanised Division of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) checked and, then reversed, a brutal jihadist onslaught involving the use of several vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED).
The victory at Qamhana inflicted heavy losses on HTS – killing most of the terrorist group’s well-trained shock troops and destroying a significant amount of its armour – and allowed pro-government forces in northern Hama to regain the strategic initiative by April.
During the month of April, pro-government forces completely reversed all militant territorial gains and even liberated new areas of northern Hama they had not held prior to the jihadist-led offensive.
After Hama, the Tiger Forces – including the Tarmah detachment – returned to Aleppo Governonate were they expelled ISIS militants from vast sections of province, including the Maskanah Plains, and then from southwestern Raqqa Governonate, concluding their strategic operation by restoring government control over the highway between Ethriyah and Rusafa.
As of now, it appears that a significant number of Tiger Forces soldiers have been granted service leave to rest after almost six months of relentless high-intensity engagements in the governonates of Aleppo, Hama and Raqqa.
Which front the Tiger Forces may deploy to next and when remains to be seen.
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