One week after launching their large-scale offensive in the provincial capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the conglomerate of Islamist factions that form “Ansar Al-Shari’ah” have been unsuccessful in achieving their primary endeavor to capture the western districts of Aleppo, making this the fourth failed assault on the Syrian Government controlled part of the city.
On Sunday morning, the two largest factions in Ansar Al-Shari’ah – Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham – attacked the Syrian Armed Forces at the Great Prophet Mosque in the Al-Zahra Association Quarter for the fifth time this week, resulting in a series of fierce clashes between the opposing parties before the Islamist fighters withdrew to the western flank in order to evade the Syrian Arab Air Force’s aerial bombardment.