The military operations in the north of Syria recently intensified after Al-Nusra Front terrorists started concentrating their forces to retake the strategic city of Kinsabba in Latakia province.
The jihadists have turned the town, which is mostly made up of mountains and ravines, into a giant minefield to put more pressure on the Syrian Arab Army, which recently retook it from the militants.
The operation to retake Kinsabba saw the Syrian Army advance through a nearby hill and retake the castles of Shalaf and Tubal. The terrorists almost immediately launched a counter-attack after government forces took Kinsabba, not even stopping to rest during the night.
There are two reasons why the Al-Nusra Front terrorists launched such an intense attack on the city: first, for the infantry forces, Kinsabba is known as the “Gates to the Kurd Mountains” and is located on the border with Turkey.
Secondly, Kinsabba is strategically located on the road connecting Latakia with Aleppo, which will allow the Syrian Army to plan its ground operations for the liberation of Idlib and its suburbs.
One of the Syrian Army field commanders, when talking with Sputnik Arabic, called the fight for Kinsabba a “slaughter” where the militants employed the use of suicide bombers in their bid to take back the city.
“However they don’t have a single chance as Shalaf and Tubal are under our full control and without them it is impossible to take Kinsabba,” he told Sputnik.
The serviceman said that the operation was being conducted with the support of the Syrian Air Forces, which conducted airstrikes on the positions of the terrorists, giving the infantry the opportunity to advance towards Kinsabba.
Since the start of this week the artillery and the missile systems of the Syrian Army have been operating 24/7 launching attacks at the mine-studded approaching trucks and the militants' columns of military trucks, which arrive from Idlib to support the Al-Nusra Front terrorists.