Al-Masdar reported, 5 hours ago in the northern countryside of the Aleppo Governorate, the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division – alongside Hezbollah, Harakat Al-Nujaba (Iraqi paramilitary), Liwaa Al-Badr (Iraqi paramilitary), the National Defense Forces (NDF), and Kata’eb Hezbollah (Iraqi paramilitary) – entered the imperative farm area near the village of Ard Al-Malaah after a violent battle with Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group), Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen, Jabhat Al-Shamiyah, and the Free Syrian Army (FSA). According to a military source in the Aleppo Governorate, the Syrian Armed Forces and their allies advanced from the nearby village of Handarat, seizing several farms that make-up Mazra’a Al-Malaah (Al-Malaah Farms) after surprising the Islamist rebels with a powerful assault an hour ago. Mazra’a Al-Malaah was captured by the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, the Free Syrian Army, and Jabhat Al-Shamiyah last year after they countered the Syrian Armed Forces’ large-scale offensive to lift the siege on the predominately Shi’i towns of Al-Zahra’a and Nubl. If the Syrian Armed Forces are successful in seizing these farms from the Islamist rebels, they will be in position to recapture the imperative village of Ard Al-Malaah that was also captured during the Syrian Opposition’s large-scale counter-offensive in northern Aleppo last year.
