Click to see the full-size map
On March 21, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Jaish al-Izzah, Jaish al-Nasr, Jaish idlib al-Hur, Ajnad al-Sham, the Turkistan Islamic party and other militant groups launched a large advance against government forces in the northern part of the province of Hama.
The militants used two suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices to break government defenses and to enter Suran and the Rahbet Khattab army base. In total, the militants used up to 10 battle tanks in the advance in the area.
Separately, multiple rocket launcher systems belonging to the militants massively shelled the Hama air base, allegedly damaging two warplanes belonging to the Syrian Air Force.
By March 22, the joint militant forces have seized Souran, the the Rahbet Khattab army base, the town of Khattab and launched an attempt to cut the Ma’ardas -Hama road. Heavy clashes are ongoing in the area.
Some pro-militant sources even reported that the “opposition” seized Al-Sheer, Ma’ardas and Iskandariyah. These reports have not been confirmed.
A Hayat Tahrir al-Sham map shows the militants’ advance on Souran and Khattab (blue):
Click to see the full-size map
According to pro-government sources, since March 21, the Syrian army has destroyed 3 battle tanks and 1 armoured vehicle belonging to the joint militant forces. In turn, pro-militant sources claim that the ‘opposition’ has captured a battle tank, destroyed a battle tank and killed “multiple regime fighters.”
Videos and photos show the militant advane in northern Hama:
I hope this offensive force SAA to capture Northern Hama.
The target should be Idlib. Cut off the head of the snake.
It should be. Capturing Northern Hama is the first step.Then it is Jisr Al Shigour
Obviously they value reclaiming as much Syrian territory from ISIS as possible more than liberating contained pockets. The real danger is that the US could set up some kind of sub state in eastern Syria, while a pain in the ass, the Hama pocket and others do not pose a long term strategic threat.
The result of focusing on ISIS while ignoring the imminent threat posed by the “moderate rebels”. Seems the Russians/Syrians believed they had somehow stabilized the situation and reached an understanding with Erdogan who just stabbed them in the back one more time.
Yes . I said launch 3 offensives – East Aleppo which they did , Southern Aleppo and Northern Latakia or Northern Hama
Well, they had to prevent the Erdog from continuing southwards and they have to reach Raqqah at least so they can participate in its liberation in some way at least. So later they can avoid some kind of sunni puppet state being formed there.
Also, they had to retake Palmyra and the oil facilities around the area to stabilise that front.