Over the last three days, Assad’s forces have failed to advance on the villages of Tel Malah and al-Jabin in the northern Hama countryside, which were taken by opposition fighters at the start of June as part of the military campaign by al-Fateh al-Mbain.
The official spokesman for the National Front for Liberation, Naji al-Mustafa, told Alsouria Net on Sunday that since Friday, the Assad regime had tried more than seven times to advance on Tel Malah and al-Jabin, but that it had not achieved any progress.
Mustafa added that the failed attempts to advance coincided with a heavy bombardment by warplanes on the frontlines and civilians in Homs and in the Hama and Idleb countrysides.
Mustafa added that the Assad regime had lost more than 70 fighters over the past two days, in addition to the destruction of equipment and, Shilka and BMP vehicles after they were hit with anti-armor rockets.
During the land operation, which has been ongoing for about two months, Assad’s forces—with Russian logistical and air support—have failed to achieve major gains in opposition areas. Rebel groups have repelled all attempts to make a broad advance and have killed hundreds of Assad’s fighters, and have also been able to take the battle outside their territory, as shown after they took control over al-Jabin and Tel Malah and the al-Dahara school in the northern Hama countryside.
Regarding the reason for the regime’s desperation to retake the two villages, Mustafa said that the Assad regime was trying to, “compensate for its defeats because it has advanced more than one force and they have all been defeated and taken heavy losses, with the revolutionaries also preventing them from reaching important areas deep in their areas of influence in the Hama countryside.”
Coinciding with the failure of Assad’s forces to advance in the Hama countryside at the expense of rebel groups, it proceeded to bombard Turkish observation points—especially the Sheer al-Maghar point—despite the threats that Turkey has issued through President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The last strikes were on Saturday, which hit the Turkish army’s tenth observation point in the northwestern Hama countryside with an artillery bombardment from an area under the control of Assad’s forces, in the second strike of its kind in two days.
Mustafa said that with each failure on the ground, Assad’s forces took revenge by bombing civilian homes, markets and Turkish observation points.
He added that this showed their failure, adding that, “they have not been able to achieve any advance on the ground.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
