After a week of frontline deadlock in Daraa, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a counter-offensive in the southern sector of Daraa city.

Targeting the Deraa Al-Bilad neighborhood, Syrian government soldiers were able to recapture a handful of buildings that were lost in February to Islamist rebels of Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Southern Front.

According to a military source close to Al-Masdar News, an estimated dozen HTS combattants were neutralized on Sunday by airstrikes on the Al-Masri roundabout, Al-Kark neighborhood, and Al-Arba’een district.

In addition, two machine gun manned vehicles were destroyed while heading to the rebel-held areas which came under SAA attack in the Deraa Al-Balad neighborhood today.

With the rebel offensive, dubbed ‘Death rather than humiliation’, grinding to a halt, insurgents in the provincial capital of Daraa have now returned to a defensive setup.

Although the SAA is yet to decisively break through the jihadist defensive line at the Al-Manishiyah and Daraa Al-Bilad districts, Syrian and Russian jets are playing a vital role in constantly dislodging militant mobilization in the city.

Leading the SAA’s counter-offensive is the 5th Division of the Republican Guard, National Defence Forces (NDF), 15th Division special forces and a contingent of Hezbollah (Lebanese paramilitary) units.

Recently, rebel forces sent hundreds of reinforcements from Daraa city to rural areas west of the provincial capital to fend off an ongoing ISIS offensive.

Subsequently, the power balance in Daraa city has shifted in favor of government troops that outnumber rebel forces due to the latter diverting a large chunk of its manpower.

ALSO READ  Turkey claims 25+ Kurdish fighters killed in retaliatory attack

Picture of an airstrike on Daraa city on Sunday afternoon:

Chris Tomson | AMN

Advertisements
Share this article:
  • 233
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    233
    Shares
Chris Tomson
Student currently living in Denmark. Special focus on news from Syria, MENA map-making and strategical military analysis.

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.