On January 9, members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) withdrew from the villages of Rasm Hamideh, Astablat, Surouj and al-Adiliyah in southern Idlib under a pressure from the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces and their allies, according to pro-government sources.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was not able to organize a strong defense in the area and started preparing for a fighting in the area of Abu al-Duhur.
On January 8, government forces liberated over 12 villages in the same area and deployed within about 10-12km from the Abu al-Duhur airbase.