You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria insurgents recapture village from government forces
2019-05-23
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Syrian opposition fighters said Wednesday they recaptured a village on the edge of their stronghold in northwestern Syria that had been seized two weeks earlier by government forces in an offensive that wrecked a months-old cease-fire in the densely populated area.

The capture of Kfar Nabuda by government forces on May 8 was the most serious challenge to the cease-fire in Idlib province and surrounding areas negotiated by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
in September.

It was the first ground advance by government forces on the rebel stronghold, which is home to three million people, since the cease-fire averted an earlier offensive.

The area is among the last outside Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
’s control and the last area still held by anti-government rebels in the country’s eight-year civil war.

Naji al-Mustafa, a spokesperson for the opposition fighters, said they regained control of the village on Wednesday following an overnight counteroffensive.

He said they aim to regain control of all the areas seized by the government over the last two weeks.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed government forces were repelled from Kfar Nabuda, adding there were festivities on the outskirts.

The rebel advance was met with intense government and Russian Arclight airstrikes on the enclave. The Observatory said at least 18 were killed since late Tuesday in strikes on four villages and towns, including 12 in an airstrike on a market in Maaret al-Numan.

Syrian first responders, the White Helmets, put the corpse count in the market airstrike at nine.

In Turkey’s capital, Ankara, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said talks with Russia to contain the violence were ongoing.

"We have told (the Russians) the (Syrian) regime must be controlled. The regime’s attacks must be stopped," Akar said. "They said they would work on it."

Russia had said the holy warriors are increasingly directing their missiles toward its military base in the coastal province of Latakia, explaining its participation in the strikes against the rebel stronghold, despite sponsoring the cease-fire.

Posted by:Fred

00:00