On Monday morning, the Syrian Arab Army’s 63rd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division – alongside Hezbollah and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – launched a powerful assault on the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” at Al-Sultani Street near the Al-Zabadani city-center, resulting in the capture of this area and the death of 28 confirmed enemy combatants.
Al-Sultani Street has long been a Jabhat Al-Nusra stronghold in Al-Zabadani and with its capture by the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance today; this battle for the resort-city of Al-Zabadani has reached its critical stages, as Jabhat Al-Nusra and their allies struggle to maintain control over the remaining territory they occupy.
In addition to their capture of Al-Sultani Street, the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance have cutoff the Free Syrian Army’s “Liwaa Suqour Al-Zabadani” (Al-Zabadani Hawks Brigade), Jabhat Al-Nusra, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) inside Al-Zabadani from their stronghold at Madaya to the south.
The loss of the Al-Zalah Farms in southern Al-Zabadani will hurt Jabhat Al-Nusra and their allies in the long-run, as the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah have seized their main supply route to Madaya and the primary source of their food supply.
While the battle is far from over, the militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra, ISIS, Liwaa Suqour Al-Zabadani, and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham face an uphill battle in Al-Zabadani, due to their encirclement by the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah; this is amalgamated with the prevalence of airstrikes from the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) that continuously pound the Islamist rebels inside the city.
