On Thursday morning, the militants from the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” – in coordination with their allies from Ansar Al-Shari’ah, Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham – conducted another large-scale assault on the western sector of Aleppo City; this time, the aforementioned gboups targeted the Air Force Intelligence building in the Al-Zahra Association Quarter.
The assault began when the militants of Jabhat Al-Nusra and their Islamist allies attacked the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) at the Great Prophet Mosque, resulting in the latter withdrawing towards the Air Force Intelligence building’s neighborhood, where they would join their comrades entrenched in the surrounding apartments.
Following their initial success at the Great Prophet Mosque, Jabhat Al-Nusra and their Islamist allies shifted their attention to the dilapidated Air Force Intelligence building, where a large contingent of National Defense Forces and Syrian Arab Army soldiers awaited their imminent assault from the northwestern flank of the facility’s perimeter.
Not long after the militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra and their Islamist allies attacked the Air Force Intelligence building’s northwestern perimeter, the Syrian Arab Air Force’s Hind Helicopters arrived on the scene to assist the Syrian Armed Forces to forestall and repel the assault; this powerful assault by the latter resulted in the militant groups retreating to the Great Prophet Mosque.