The Situation in the Mt. Hermon Area: Interview with the Hermon Regiment- Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

The vicinity of Jabal al-Sheikh (aka Mt. Hermon), which lies at the intersection of Lebanon, Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, contains the last pockets of rebel-held territory in the southwestern Damascus countryside, centred around the localities of Beit Jann and Mazra'at Beit Jann. To clarify the difference, the former locality is the original one, whereas the origins of Mazra'at Beit Jann only date back to around the mid-20th century. Both Beit Jann and Mazra'at Beit Jann are Sunni localities. The main families in Beit Jann are:

- al-Safadi

- Hamada

- al-Badawi

As for Mazra'at Beit Jann:

- Othman

- Qablan

- Hamuda

- Abu Assaf

- Zaytun

Combined, these two localities originally had a population of around 15,000. However, these numbers have been substantially reduced over the course of the war. There is another locality of note in the area still under rebel control: Mughir al-Mir, originally a Druze village. But Mughir al-Mir has been devoid of its original inhabitants for 4 years, as they fled from the rebels.

Currently, these localities under rebel control are now under assault by Syrian government forces, a campaign that began in September 2017. The context for the assault is that the Syrian government had been attempting to pressure rebel-held localities in the southwestern Damascus countryside near Mt. Hermon to agree to 'reconciliation': an arrangement that brings areas back under government control without full-scale military operations. Several localities- Kafr Hawr, Beit Tayma, Beit Saber, Hasano and Sa'sa'- agreed to 'reconciliation' in January 2017, whereas Beit Jann and Mazra'at Beit Jann rejected it and continue to do so. For context, note that Sa'sa' is home to branch 220 of the military intelligence.

On the government side, the two main forces involved in the operations to retake Beit Jann and Mazra'at Beit Jann are the 7^th and 4^th divisions of the Syrian army. The high elevation is an important factor in making any assault a difficult fight. The coming winter will also be an impediment to operations. Thus, there are no expectations that Beit Jann and Mazra'at Beit Jann will come back under government control in the near future. Yet it is likely that a return to government control will be the eventual outcome.

http://www.aymennjawad.org/2017/11/the-situation-in-the-mt-hermon-area-interview