Syria: Army Preparing to Break Militants’ Siege of Fuaa, Kafraya

The army and the resistance forces are set to push back the militants from the surrounding areas of the Shiite-populated towns that have been under the terrorists’ siege for over five months.

The army and Hezbollah forces intended to rescue the residents of Kafraya and Fuaa through a swap plan with the Takfiri militants, but after the Ahrar al-Sham militant group aborted the ceasefire talks, the Syrian army-Hezbollah joint forces advanced in Zabadani and spread their full control over the city.

Now their next military objective is breaking the siege of Kafraya and Fuaa, and approaching the two towns from Al-Wa’ar town seems to be an option. The strategic town of Al-Wa’ar is located in the province of Homs.

Earlier today, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah fighters seized back the city of Zabadani. The border city was purged of the terrorists Wednesday midnight after two months of intense clashes, FNA dispatches said.

Hezbollah and the Syrian army gained full victory after the remaining gangs of Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra Front terrorists were forced to withdraw from the Southern parts of Zabadani towards al-Mazaya region.

Although the Syrian army and Hezbollah have not yet officially confirmed the freedom of Zabadani, their forces are now fully cleansing the region and disposing the bombs planted in the houses and streets.

Last night the Syrian army strongly rejected media reports that the Southeastern parts of the town of Fuaa have fallen to the hand of the Takfiri terrorists.

The army’s rejection came after some pro-West media outlets claimed that the foreign-backed militants had captured key areas in Southeastern Fuaa.

The Syrian military sources said that fierce clashes are going on between the Syrian forces and the terrorist groups in the outskirts of Fuaa and Kafraya towns in Idlib province, but the militants have failed to capture any part of Fuaa.

The militants have pushed popular forces back from a village in Northeast of Fuaa, but heavy clashes are still underway in areas 3km to the East of the city. Some 3,000 rockets, mortar and artillery shells have been fired at Fuaa and Kafraya in the last 48 hours.

Since July, the Syrian popular defense forces have repeatedly repelled the Takfiri terrorists’ attacks on two Fuaa and Kafraya towns, and inflicted heavy damage and casualties on the militants.

The militants of the Jeish al-Fath terrorist group, an alliance of Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham militant groups, have repeatedly attempted to sneak into the towns of Kafraya and Fuaa, but the popular forces foiled their attack.

It is now five months that the Jeish al-Fath terrorist group has besieged Kafraya and Fuaa. The two Shiite-populated towns were part of a ceasfire deal between the Syrian and Hezbollah forces and the militant groups.

According to the ceasfire plan that went into effect three times, the two sides accepted to hold fire in Syria’s border region of Zabadani, where the Syrian army and Hezbollah joint troops are in control, and in Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib that were under Jeish al-Fath’s tight siege for five months now.

In a second step of the plan, the two sides would provide safe passage for enemy troops to withdraw from those regions. But the plan failed after one of the main militant groups violated the ceasefire terms last week.

One of the representatives of the militants in the ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah and Syria blamed Turkey-backed militants for the violation of the ceasefire.

“One of the reasons that the ceasefire was violated was because Ahrar al-Sham called for complete withdrawal of the Syrian troops from the villages of Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib,” the Arabic-language Al-Watan quoted Secretary General of the Syrian Solidarity Party Mohammad Abolqassem as saying.

Then, Mohammad Abolqasem, representative of the militant groups in the ceasefire negotiations with the Syrian army in Zabadani, blamed the Ahrar al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group for the failure of ceasefire talks in the Southwestern Syrian city.

“The negotiations were about the safe pullout of the militants from Zabadani in the Western countryside of Damascus in lieu of transfer of civilians from the towns of Kafarya and Fuaa in Idlib to Damascus countryside,” Abolqasem told FNA.

He reiterated that Ahrar al-Sham insisted that none of the militants of other terrorist groups fighting against the Damascus government, except Ahrar al-Sham, should be given a safe passage from Zabadani.

“Then the militants of Zabadani, who have appointed me as their spokesman in talks with the Syrian government to finalize the truce agreement, left the negotiations,” Abolqasem said.

Hours later, other Arabic-language media also said that the violation of the ceasefire in the countryside of Damascus and Idlib province had been orchestrated by the Turkish government.

The Ahrar al-Sham militant group has received orders from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to violate the ceasefire between the government and the militants in the town of Zabadani in Damascus countryside and two Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province, Al-Watan said.

Days later, the two sides agreed to cease fire once again. But the two-day-long truce ended with no tangible results on Saturday. Then the Syrian army and Hezbollah forces started their operations to take control of al-Mazaya town in the Southern parts of Zabadani region after the third 48-hour-long ceasefire with the militants ended on Saturday and militants resumed fire.

Before the Syrian army-Hezbollah operation in Zabadani, the Ahrar al-Sham terrorist group resumed artillery fire on the two towns of Fuaa and Kafraya to declare resumption of war and end of the ceasefire.

The third 48-hour ceasefire had begun at 6a.m. Thursday in several towns in the Northwestern and Western parts of Syria along the border with Lebanon, including Zabadani.

The truce terms included ceasefire in the town of Zabadani in the countryside of Damascus and the two Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib province.

The ceasefire was announced in Zabadani after the terrorists were surrounded by the Syrian army and resistance forces one and a half kilometers from the city center.

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