The leaders of the armed Syrian opposition in the mountains of Qalamoun are making extensive claims about victories they have purportedly achieved in the area, promising more to come. But by contrast, their enemies accuse them of propagandizing and peddling claims that are not substantiated by facts on the ground. Indeed, Hezbollah and the Syrian army stress vehemently that this entire area is strategically invaluable, and that there can be no turning back there.
Since the start of last summer, the fighters of the Syrian army and Hezbollah have managed to repel more than six major assaults in the direction of Lebanese territory or within Syrian territory, from the Qusayr countryside to Qalamoun – the battles in the wilderness near Brital and beyond on Sunday being the sixth such round. On the Syrian side of the front, the leadership of al-Nusra Front has been focusing on the town of Assal al-Ward. This town is closest among the towns of Qalamoun to the Lebanese border (opposite the town of Tufail). The wilderness area near the town also connects with those of Tufail, Serghaya, and Zabadani. For this reason, the militants have focused their attacks on this region, at a rate of one attack per week (though some attacks were very limited in scope).
In the six major attacks, as well as in the limited ones, the opposition militants, led by ISIS and al-Nusra Front, failed to make a breach that would allow them to restore their “lost glory” in Qalamoun. Only once did they get close, when they used sleeper cells that penetrated into the hills in the direction of Talfita. However, the breach was soon addressed and the militants’ plan was thwarted.