FILE IMAGE: Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy
69 members of militant groups, including 10 military commanders, were killed in clashes with government forces in the period between March 21 and March 28, the Hezbollah media wing in Syria reported in its official Twitter account.
تنسيقيات المسلحين تقر بمقتل 69 مسلحا بينهم 10 مسؤولين بنيران #الجيش_السوري بريفي #حماة الشمالي والشمالي الغربي منذ 21-3-2017 وحتى 28-3-2017 pic.twitter.com/SzTNf1HFcZ
— الاعلام الحربي مركزي (@C_Military1) March 28, 2017
On March 21, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda), Jaysh al-Izza and Abnaa al-Sham launched a large-scale advane against government forces in northern Hama, seizing a number of villages in the area. Later, another well-known ‘moderate’ opposition group, Ahar al-Sham, joined Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its allies in their advance against the Syrian military.
By March 29, government forces had stabilized situation in the area and now are probing militant defenses in various parts of the frontline, searching an opportunity to launch a counter-attack.
On March 28, the Russian Defense Ministry provided own version of the casualties among the militant group in the area. According to the Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy, 2,100 members of militant groups had been killed during the clashes with the Syrian army, backed up by the Russian Aerospace Forces.
