Syrian Arab Army (SAA) troops in southeast Idlib repelled in the noon of December 21 a counter-attack by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.
The attack targeted newly-established positions of the SAA in the outskirt of the town of al-Ruffah, which was captured by the army in the first hours of the morning.
According to pro-government sources, the SAA repelled the counter-attack within a single hour, neutralizing most of the attackers and their equipment.
Click to see full-size map. Source: (@Suriyakmaps) on Twitter.
During the attack, a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (SVBIED) of HTS targeted a gathering of Syrian troops in al-Ruffah. HTS claimed that 80 soldiers were killed or injured. However, pro-government sources said that the SVBIED was destroyed before reaching its designated target.
The failure of the counter-attack is a blow to HTS and its allies, which lost more than a dozen towns in southeast Idlib during the last 48 hours.
Good so far for SAA-Russia.Let us hope the SAA continue strong and without stop this offensive. Hopefully, Putin does not please Erdogan ant his terrorists this time.
I’m sorry, my friend, because what you expect is not going to happen. It is more than obvious that if Russia wanted it, the entire Syrian territory would be completely reconquered by the legitimate Syrian government in a few days. But sadly it is very convenient for Putin to feed an endless war in Syria to continue testing his new weapons and revive his arms market, apart to have a reason to maintain a more intimate relationship with Erdogan, his ally in NATO.
Hard but true no matter how unpopular they are my friend.
So what about the countless SAA soldiers lost at Idleb / Latakia fronts??? Their lives will be for nothing???