THE Syrian Army and popular forces captured a strategic region in the southern parts of eastern Aleppo on Wednesday to continue their high speed advances that herald a complete clampdown on terrorists in the war-ravaged city.
Army troops and popular forces earned sweeping victories over the terrorists in 16 districts in a matter of only 72 hours and captured the northern half of the eastern Aleppo, shifted southward and gained control over al-Sakan al-Shababi (Youth Housing Complex) with the first push on Wednesday night.
The terrorist groups had relocated tens of their fighters from other fronts to al-Sakan al-Shababi, al-Halwaniyeh and al-Sha’ar districts that are the gates to the south, but failed to block or slow down the momentum of the pro-government troops’ rapid advance that has just gathered pace.
As pro-government forces advanced in militant-held regions of al-Halwaniyeh and al-Sha’ar regions, a large number of terrorists retreated in chaos, requesting Damascus for amnesty or safe relocation to Idlib.
The army men and Hezbollah fighters started a fresh round of military operation on Tuesday to move towards the southern part of eastern Aleppo after capturing al-Sakhour, Jabal al-Badrou and Arz al-Hamra regions.
Local sources say militants are deeply fearful of being trapped in the Syrian army’s tightening siege and retreat from regions under their control in the eastern districts of Aleppo city even with brief clashes in a number of cases.
The new victory for the Damascus troops came only a few hours after the army and its allies pushed Jeish Al-Fatah terrorists from the strategic district of Sheikh Saeed southeast of Aleppo city.
The Syrian army, supported by the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi al-Nujaba forces, had started a new phase of operations in Sheikh Saeed a few days ago but made slow advances due to the deployment of hundreds of terrorists in the region.
The Syrian forces could seize back control of the strategic district on Wednesday after hours of continued clashes with the militants and pushed them back from the region. A battlefield source had earlier said that al-Sheikh Saeed ‘is the southern gate to the Aleppo city’s eastern districts’, adding that recapturing al-Sheikh Saeed will result in new military developments in the eastern part of the city the most important of which will be preparing the ground for starting new military operations to take control of Aleppo castle and end the decisive battle of Aleppo.
A Syrian Army commander had revealed earlier on Wednesday that the Army and its allies were to start a comprehensive military campaign to liberate the southern districts of the city.
The commander said that the countdown to the beginning of the army offensive to win back the southern districts of east Aleppo from the militant groups had started. The high-ranking Syrian Army official who demanded anonymity further said that the operation to liberate the southern districts would start with simultaneous attacks from nine directions, the same strategy that was employed by the Syrian army to drive back militants from the northern neighbourhoods of the battleground city’s East.
The military official also revealed that army forces had deployed equipment and fresh forces to launch the large-scale offensive on the terrorists, while popular forces stationed in several positions in and around the city to help liberate the remaining districts still under the grip of the militant groups.
The Syrian army started special operations in Aleppo after several humanitarian pauses declared by Damascus and Moscow to give a chance to the civilian population as well as the militants to leave the eastern parts of the city through eight corridors, and managed to impose full control over the northern flank of Aleppo city’s eastern districts only in the last three days.
The army units have taken back 25 square kilometres of the total 45 square kilometres of eastern Aleppo while scores of terrorists were killed and wounded in tough battles with the Syrian army soldiers.
Thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children and newborn babies, have also left the eastern part of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, while a total number of 647 militants have left eastern Aleppo over the past few days.
Meanwhile, terrorist commanders stationed in the eastern parts of Aleppo have threatened Abdullah Muhammad al-Muhaysini, a senior al-Qaeda-linked cleric and the religious leader of the Jeish al-Fatah coalition of terrorist groups, that they will be forced to give up the fight and surrender the city to the army in the next two days if not rescued from outside.
Local sources in eastern Aleppo have also reported that the terrorists have lost confidence in their commanders after their repeated unfulfilled promises on breaking the army’s siege and their morale has weakened after heavy defeats and sustaining abundant casualties and damages.
After continued defeats and nearly two months of insistence on remaining in the city and rejecting the army’s several chances to leave eastern Aleppo with their weapons, terrorists are now facing the realities of war as their comrades’ massive attacks on the city to break the army’s several-month-long siege have all ended up in fiasco.
A military source also said on Wednesday that the terrorists in Aleppo will finally be forced to agree with the government’s plan to transfer the militants to Idlib similar to their comrades in Homs and Damascus.
The Lebanese al-Safir newspaper reported that the terrorists in Aleppo are under the Syrian army’s tight noose and have no option but surrendering given the field situation, while the paper referred to heavy attacks launched by the Syrian army against the terrorists in different parts of Aleppo, and wrote it seems that the era of terrorist groups is ending in Aleppo.
The Russian Defence Ministry’s Peace Cooperation Centre in Syria had said that infighting between terrorist groups in Aleppo has intensified as militants are trying to prevent other comrades from leaving the Syrian city.
Clashes between militant groups have intensified because some militants, who are controlling eastern Aleppo, wanted to leave the city but were encountered by the most hardline groups,’ the centre’s statement added.
Meanwhile, the military analysts and field sources said that battlefield information after the Syrian army and its allies’ massive attacks in Aleppo show that ‘the terrorists will soon be forced to surrender and their positions will fall one after another since they have lost a large number of their commanders and members as well as arms caches and can no more resist the Syrian troops’ offensives; this is while their regional allies have also withdrawn their support for them.’
‘Meantime, the residents of eastern Aleppo districts continue to stage protest rallies against the terrorists, demanding their exit,’ the analysts said, adding that they have even mounted pictures of President Bashar al-Assad on their walls.
• Syria’s Foreign and Expatriates Ministry has affirmed that the statements made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday showed the true goals of the Turkish aggression against Syria and that Syria will not allow him to interfere in its affairs and that it will cut off the hand that tries to harm it.
An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said on Wednesday that Erdogan’s statements prove that he is a liar and reveal that Turkish aggression against Syria is a result of the dreams and delusions that drive this extremist tyrant who turned Turkey into a base for terrorists that undermine security and stability in Syria and Iraq and cause suffering to innocents, all under the support of the Turkish regime.
‘It’s ironic that a tyrant like Erdogan would talk about democracy when he has transformed Turkey into one big prison for everyone who opposes his policy, something which was met by widespread criticism from the international community,’ the source added.
