Syria Jihadists Capture Regime Town along Vital Road

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Jihadists on Thursday seized a key town along a vital road in Syria's central Hama province, where regime forces are struggling to gain ground despite a month of Russian air strikes.

The setback for Damascus came as France announced it would deploy an aircraft carrier to boost its fight against the Islamic State group, which has seized control of large parts of Iraq and Syria.

Bolstered by the Russian air campaign launched on September 30, President Bashar Assad's forces have been fighting to retake territory lost to rebels in the country's brutal four-year war.

But regime troops have so far failed to score significant gains and on Thursday a jihadist faction, Jund al-Aqsa, was reported to have seized the last government-held town on the main highway between second city Aleppo to the north and the city of Hama to the south.

The jihadists "seized full control of the town of Morek after a fierce offensive," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said. 

Director Rami Abdel Rahman said clashes were still raging in the south and east of the town, and that "dozens" of soldiers had been killed or wounded.

Jund al-Aqsa boasted of victory on its Twitter account.

A Syrian security source insisted fighting was ongoing and denied a major setback.

Opposition fighters in the area "are being dealt with by the Syrian and Russian air force," the source said.

Morek has changed hands several times in the conflict, with government troops last retaking it in October of last year. 

Last month, Syrian troops launched a major fightback in Hama province with Russian air support, with the main Aleppo highway a main objective.

It was one of a number of counter-offensives the Damascus regime has launched since Moscow intervened.

- Turkey vows action -

But the loss of Morek has shown that despite "a lot of firepower" the Hama offensive "has had very small success, if any,"  said Jeff White, a military expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

"Despite the Russian intervention, rebels are still capable of mounting offensive operations," White said. 

Regime forces did score a rare win on Wednesday, recapturing from IS an alternative route further east that provides the government's sole link to neighborhoods of Aleppo under its control.

Advancing IS forces had severed the road late last month, cutting off food and supplies to tens of thousands of civilians in the west of Aleppo city. 

For the first time since IS had cut the road, trucks of fruits and vegetables arrived in regime neighborhoods in Aleppo city, residents said. 

IS has continued advancing its various parts of Syria, despite the Russian strikes and more than a year of air raids targeting the group by a U.S.-led coalition. 

France, which joined coalition operations in Syria last month after previously carrying out strikes in Iraq, said on Thursday it would deploy its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to better fight the jihadists.

Turkey, which shares an 800-kilometer (500-mile) border with northern Syria, meanwhile said it was planning to soon launch a military campaign against IS.

"We have plans to act militarily against them in the coming days," Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu said.

Turkey has rounded up dozens of IS suspects in recent weeks in police raids across the country, but Sinirlioglu did not specify if Ankara's action would target IS militants in Turkey or in Syria.

More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria's war, which began in 2011 and has frequently spilled across the border.

Comments 18
Default-user-icon migkhoy (Guest) 05 November 2015, 12:17

When we were told that Putin is coming was it to get some tasty Baraze2? He doesn't seem to be doing anything else.

Missing cedars 05 November 2015, 14:12

The Russian in the last few days were in jounieh with Hezbollah and clashed with the the army units trying to apprehend them from the night clubs...read the earlier posts of naharnet where the speaker ofmhizbollah Montana claimed innocence of those outlaws...

Thumb lebanon_first 05 November 2015, 15:35

what is the name of the town ya naharnet? what kind of reporting is this?

Thumb EagleDawn 05 November 2015, 17:36

lol

Thumb EagleDawn 05 November 2015, 17:46

well said mowaten.moderator, well said!

Missing mohammad_ca 05 November 2015, 18:10

Eagle please excuse him. he's not allowed to believe otherwise since vilayet e faqih told him so.

Thumb _mowaten_ 05 November 2015, 19:57

so without the evil mind control of "vilayet e faqih", nusra and da3esh would be seen as good, right?

Missing mohammad_ca 05 November 2015, 21:47

Mowoo concentrate. My comment was about the long winded story told above. And what's your beef with jihadists? Isn't that what hizbollaat claims to be? As for vilayet e faqih dictating all hizbollaat's decisions as Nasrallat has admitted. Do you really not see what the issue with that is?

Thumb lubnani.masi7i 05 November 2015, 18:20

Assad sectarian forces, Iranian revolutionary thugs, afghanis, pakistani and iraqi shias, hezb el irhab, and now russian thugs, yet the brave syrian rebels are still advancing. Nassrallah must be having nightmares.

Missing peace 05 November 2015, 18:37

"the Gulf and Turkey started it all"
assad shooting pacific protesters did not start anything i guess...

Missing peace 05 November 2015, 18:44

why not thousands of policemen? LOL

then i guess next time policemen are "killed" by protesters in beirut then the army has a green light to bomb neighborhoods in beirut ma hek? LOLLLLLLLLL

Missing peace 05 November 2015, 18:46

"Pro-democracy protests erupted in March 2011 in the southern city of Deraa after the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. After security forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing several, more took to the streets.

The unrest triggered nationwide protests demanding President Assad's resignation. The government's use of force to crush the dissent merely hardened the protesters' resolve. By July 2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country.

Opposition supporters eventually began to take up arms, first to defend themselves and later to expel security forces from their local areas."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26116868

sure assad did not start anything for brainwashed morons like you...if elmanar told you so then it sure is true! LOL

Missing peace 05 November 2015, 18:52

nice show... very entertaining... seems you need your fix now....

Thumb _mowaten_ 05 November 2015, 19:55

they desperately need to announce some "rebel" victory to bolster their morale. you're cruel for ruining the joy of anonyme, eagleyawn and pajamas, they were just about to pop (halal) champagne and halawas to celebrate this day...

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 06 November 2015, 01:34

Abass - wrong again. The Syrian army captured Morek almost a year ago. It took them several months of fighting and they lost hundreds of soldiers. They lost it again in couple of days!! And no, the regime has not retaken the city and they just lost one of their primary base of Kasarat.

Default-user-icon Mohammad Fawwaz (Guest) 05 November 2015, 22:33

Sad to see mouwaten falling into complete hopeless depression and troll spamming this site uncontrollably, but I understand his predicament. Nasally keeps lying to him and telling him that they're winning yet the territory controlled by Assad keeps shrinking. To rub salt in the gapping wound his friends keep coming back in body bags in their dozens even after the Russian stalled rescue attempts.

Thumb marcus 06 November 2015, 00:46

علمت "العربية" من مصادر مطلعة الخميس، سقوط 16 قتيلا من حزب الله خلال 48 ساعة في إدلب السورية.
ومن بين القتلى مسؤول ميداني في حزب الله يدعى علي بلحص من بلدة صديقي جنوب لبنان، وباقي القتلى هم، أبو حسين (الجنوب)، وحسين محمد عيد (لجنوب)، وعلي محمد علوية (الجنوب)، ومازن محمد صقر (الجنوب)، ومازن محمد صقر (الجنوب)، وأسعد حسين سلوم(الجنوب)، وحسين محمد شقرا (الجنوب)، وبلال حسن عدشيت(الجنوب)، ومحمد علي فحص (الجنوب)، وحسن حسين الفيتروني (بيروت)، وعلي عبد الكريم النجار(جبيل)، وعبدالله حسن شكر (الجنوب)، ووائل عباس عباس(الجنوب)، وحسين محمد عقيل (البقاع الغربي)، وفراس علي علاوة(الهرمل)، وأسعد عبدالله مجدلاني(بيروت)، وحسين نايف الأسعد (بيروت)، وفايز نايف شمص(بيروت).

Thumb liberty 06 November 2015, 07:39

only your filth in dahieh distribute "biklawa"