Jabhat al-Nusra’s (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) media department has released brand new footage of Islamist fighters charging towards government positions in northern Aleppo, during a series of counter-attacks on Wednesday.
According to a military source in the area, the Al-Nusra Front and aligned Islamist militias of the ‘Fatah Halab operations room’ launched a diversionary attack towards the Al-Breij front, near the Sheikh Najjar Industrial Area, while launching their main offensive towards the embattled Al-Mallah farms in northern Aleppo.
The swift offensive did have the Al-Nusra Front gain some initial ground as the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) Tiger Forces performed a tactical withdrawal to a point behind the actual frontline (depicted at 1:40 in the video).
However, by Jabhat al-Nusra’s own admission, their forces were later forced to retreat back to their initial positions due to a massive artillery bombardment targeting their forward area.
A source embedded with the SAA’s Tiger Forces said the attack was expected, and that Major General Suheil al-Hassan had ordered that if the enemy was to attack specific points, the SAA should pull back while flanking government troops fire upon the infiltrated area.
Footage of the Islamist offensive can be seen below:
According to a Syrian military source in the area, it is impossible to hold the area south of the Al-Mallah farms without capturing the farms themselves.
He added that the SAA’s media department would release their own video tomorrow revealing the aftermath of the battle.
A total of 2 Islamist tanks, 4 machine gun pickup trucks, 3 BMP’s and 21 rebel fighters were killed in the course of the clashes, while several more were taken alive by the SAA’s Tiger Forces.
This should – according to the source – transpire of tomorrow’s SAA video.
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