The Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division and Hezbollah are preparing for what appears to be the final assault to lift the three year long siege that was imposed on the predominately Shi’i towns of Al-Zahra’a and Nubl by the Islamist rebels of Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen and Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group).
According to a senior officer from the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division, the coming hours are going to be the most critical for the Syrian Armed Forces and their allies as they attempt to seize the strategic villages of Rityan, Bayyanoun, and Tal Mu’arasat from the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Jabhat Al-Shamiyah, Jaysh Al-Mujahiddeen, and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham. Based on reports from the social media activists of the Syrian Opposition, a large convoy of reinforcements from Jabhat Al-Nusra has arrived to the villages of Rityan and Tal Mu’arasat in order to help drive back the advancing Hezbollah and Syrian Arab Army soldiers.