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Following a surrender of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in southern Syria to pro-government forces, only 60km2 remained in the hands of militants. This area is controlled by the local branch of ISIS, also known as the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army.
During its advance northwest of the city of Daraa, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies liberated at least 660km2. The remaining members of the FSA and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in this area are currently handing over their weapons to the SAA.
A radical part of the militants has got an open corridor toward the militant-held province of Idlib. Their more moderate part, not involved in any war crimes, has got an opportunity to settle their legal status with the Damascus government.
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marvellous news! the pocket djihadist of quneitra is annihiled YOUPIE!!! :)
Good job but the title is too optimistic. In South Syria, Golan still remains under the control of Israel and al-Tanf under that of the US; last time I checked, both seemed plenty “militant” to me.
Golan is under israeli control since 1974, not militant control. Al-Tanf will be handed over to the government as soon as Iran withdraws, which by the way will be after Idlib settlement. I’ll give this war until the beginning of 2019, after that it will all be over.
This campaign has been a very impressive one. I reckon that the Russians have done a great job re-organizing the SAA into a force that actually win battles again. In no small part helped by Russian advisors down to battalion and maybe even company levels. The abilities of the SAA to fight and win campaigns have improved dramatically since the Russian intervention started in 2015. The strategy of using carrot and stick, reconciliation and/or relocation to Idlib as the carrot, and overwhelming effective force as the stick, has proven to be a winner in this campaign.
The ISIS campaigns will probably be have to fought with a different strategy in mind, as ISIS will not reconcile, and has no Idlib to withdraw too. It will be a meatgrinding fight to the death as only death or victory will be their option. On the plus side, ISIS has no White Helmets, staging convenient ‘incidents’ for the West to outrage over, nor can any Western government object to ISIS territory to be under attack.
Bombs beat bullets every time then mop up what’s left, a few days to a week and we say bye bye to these guys. You should also be impressed that Putin was able to miraculously keep the Israeli’s, Jordan and the US out of this fight altogether, I know was.
True. But keeping Israel out came at the price of letting Israel still hit the Iranians in Syria whenever they please. But once the Israeli’s were placated the US followed, like the loyal Israeli vassal that it is. And since Jordan is a loyal vassal to both countries they would follow whatever Israel and the US tell them to do.
In this case I believe it was the donkey leading the carrot, King Abdullah was the first to capitulate to Putin’s requests. At Putin’s insistence, he persuaded the US to halt support for the FSA, and also persuaded the SFA to reconcile with Assad at the same time, 2 small miracles that happened more than 12 months ago. The Israeli’s were next to capitulate with their reversal of “Assad must go” to “we have no problem with Assad remaining”, one huge and unexpected miracle about 2 or 3 months ago. It’s the US that’s actually been dragging it’s feet in the reconciliation process, and not pulling the strings as they usually do. Their small miracle was to stay out of the fight here altogether and not spoil the operation, their official statement, “don’t count on our support if you’re attacked by the SAA” was enough to constitute a very small miracle, but it came very late in the process just a few weeks ago. That’s why I say the donkey was leading the carrot this time, not the other way around. King Abdullah didn’t capitulate to UNHCR’s [US’s] demands to open his borders to the fleeing refugees [terrorists], to assist in this so called “humanitarian disaster”, which it isn’t, he actually said no to his financial masters request, unlike the good little donkey he usually is. Maybe Putin’s got a bigger and tastier carrot for him now. But like you I also worry the price actually paid to achieve this miracle. It’s not just Israeli’s hitting Iranian or Hezbollah targets I’m worried about though, I fear there’s a lot more we don’t know about, and that one day we’ll look back and say, that was too high a price to pay, even for this miracle. We already have an idea what Israel wants, they’re already getting it, but what do the other two want, what do the US and Jordan get out of all this, that’s what I’d also really like to know. cheers.
Now for the icing on the cake,ISIS to be annihilated,along with their satanic zionist commanders.
Nah, the zionist have fled already, those there left to die are just cannon fodders…
I wonder if the SAA will fight even one hard street battle here, I suspect they won’t since there’s no need to. Just keep bombing them until you can’t hear their screams anymore, then go in and mop up any survivors, there shouldn’t be too many left if the Airforce’s does it’s job properly [artillery units too]. In Game of thrones they’ve used this line twice, “but we’re not doing it your way”, I think the SAA should be saying that to these wankers. I like the sound of “what’s that, you’re bringing a knife to a gunfight, that’s not very clever”. In truth I think it would actually be quicker to bomb the h-ll out of them and just mop up the remains, fighting in the streets could take weeks or more, and also cost a lot of SAA lives. Bomb them into oblivion then pick up the pieces and put them in the trash, so simple and easy, and quicker.
You watch too many hollywood blockbuster movies.
There are CIVILIANS caught up in this nightmare through no fault of their own. You want to carpet bomb all of them too?!?!
I prefer the RussianSyrian approach… “Lay down your weapons and leave on the next available bus…or else.” It’s been working fine so far.
Damn you’re right, I like the other’s guy plan, but it’s always the civilians that keeps off the Russian and the Syrian air force from flattering the whole place
I watch no LGBTQI blockbuster movies at all none, they’re made for LGBTQI people not me. You obviously have absolutely no idea what has just happened here do you. There were hardly any innocent civilians mixed up with combatants here in Daraa and Qunietra, hardly any, that’s why this operation’s gone so smoothly and quickly. These 2 governates didn’t have mixed populations of combatants and non combatants all living in the same villages and towns, they’ve been totally separated for 12 months now into either, completely pro reconciliation or completely anti reconciliation areas, and with absolutely nothing else in between. The innocent civilians that may have been displaced by the fighting, were the pro reconciliation rebels that may have been living in towns adjacent to where fighting occurred. They may have moved out for a few days while the fighting was taking place next door, but have been in most cases, just moving straight back into their homes as soon as it’s finished, 2 or 3 days usually, a week at most, haven’t you been reading the real reports. I’ve done the maths, 10,000 rebel fighters and their families another 50 to 80,0000 people, a total of 90 to 100,000 people max that are about to become refugees, don’t believe what the UN and their cronies tell you, 230,000/330,000, those are the fake numbers for people that do watch Hollywood blockbusters to believe. All the poor people you feel so sorry for are the family members of the terrorist that refused to stop fighting, they were the problem here. Now they’re all camped out at the Golan strip and the Jordanian border, trying to flee from the SAA, who will eventually hold their terrorist, Fathers, Husbands and Sons to account for what they’ve done here. In these 2 areas of fighting you were either, 1; pro Assad, 2; anti Assad pro reconciliation, or 3; anti Assad anti reconciliation, it’s only the number 3 group that’s really affected at all. This pocket of Isis is a little different as it does indeed have a slightly mixed population, but the civilians wont be on the front lines, they’ll be congregating in areas away from where the fighting will occur. The Russians have been using Air power and the SAA artillery for 3 days now, and yesterday the SAA started flying here too, they seem to be bombing them into submission already as far as I can see. What’s worse from the SAA’s perspective, lose 2 or 3 hundred soldiers lives trying to fight Isis on the ground, where they’re very effective and the battle would stretch on for weeks and months, and still cost many innocent civilians lives. Or carpet bomb them into submission killing 2 or 3 hundred innocent civilians in the process, that really should have moved out long ago ago but didn’t. It’s not like anyone tried to stop them leaving, or they had nowhere to go to, Assad’s seen to that long ago. So far there’ve been hardly any innocent deaths here, and I’m sure the Russian’s are doing there very best to keep those numbers as low as they can, I don’t think we’ll have a repeat of what happened in Raqqa with the US’s bombing strategy. It doesn’t matter what we say anyway, look at what they’re doing, they’re telling you the same thing I am, they’re already bombing them into oblivion.
I thank you for your detailed response. It’s always good to get the opinion and observations of someone with personal knowledge of the situation.
Thanks for the kind response. I do have to let you know that I don’t actually have personal knowledge of the situation. I just sift through all the conflicting and confusing news articles and then compare them to any official statements or any available alternate info, to “TRY” and get to the truth of the matter, which is getting harder and harder to do. Cheers.
Well done SAA, Russia, Palestine and their allies. You are real heroes on this planet Earth. You can make an impossible mission possible. Root it out completely the US, NATO and of their proxies Israel and ISIS barbarism from Middle East.
Syrian rescue Operation from US backed proxies Israel, ISIS, Al-Qaeda etc.
1. in July, 2018 Daraa/Golan Heights, ISIS cells and Al-Tanf in Homs, 2. in August and September, 2018 Idlib/Aleppo, 3. in October / November, 2018 Deir Ezzor/ Hasakah/ Raqqah, 4. December, 2018 to March, 2019 all Palestine will be liberated from US backed proxies Israel. ————————————————————————
the ragheads can always retreat to their home country through the golan heights.
Assad is reducing Rebel pockets by intrigue now, but the ISIS pocket will most likely have to be fought throungh. The upside for Assad is that the IDF won’t stop them and may even coordinate, the downside for Assad is that brings SAA’s heavy weapons within pointblank range of Israeli positions. Keep in mind that the battlefield is so tight that Reuters reporters witnessed athe battles and the evacuation of Rebels all from the edge of the Golan Heights. https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN1KA0SX
This isn’t so much the SAA becoming invincible. This is about diplomacy. Militants are hardly fighting. Some are relocating to idlib. But some are being evacuated by Israel and flown to Afghanistan to join Isis there.
Diplomatically, Russia achieved a major victory. They convinced Israel to go back to the 1974 cease fire line. They even convinced Israel to let the UN peacekeepers return to patrol the line. We can only assume Russia promised Israel to have Iran out of southern Syria – at the very least. We don’t know the full extent of what Russia promised Israel.