Led by the Elite Republican Guard, the Syrian Arab Army stormed the small town of Hawsh al-Zarqiyah from their positions at the recently captured air defense base.
The Syrian Army attack would prove too much for the Salafist tough guys of Jaish al-Islam
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful..., as they were ultimately forced to withdraw east to the nearby town of Utaya.
According to a military source, the Syrian Army is now heavily shelling the southwestern and northwestern flanks of Utaya; they are expected to attack the town in the coming hours.