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.
Andrew Illingworth | AMN
Andrew Illingworth | AMN
Andrew Illingworth | AMN
Andrew Illingworth | AMN401 - 401Shares
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:
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.