National Defence Forces and Hezbollah Forces Capture the Factories in Al-Zahra and Nubl

The National Defense Forces (NDF) along with help from Hezbollah have captured the remaining factories in the possession of the Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Al-Nusra) fighters in the besieged villages of Al-Zahra and Nubl after fierce clashes for over a week. The success near the factories is a direct result of the Al-Nusra Front halting their attack in the south; they are now focused on breaking through the village defenses near the Aleppo-Azaz Road. The failure to secure area adjacent to the government factories has added to the plight of Al-Nusra Front fighters entrenched nearby.

Intense firefights broke-out between members of the Islamic Front (Jabhat Al-Islamiyya) and the Syrian Arab Army north of Camp Handarat in the Aleppo Governorate. The confrontation resulted in the death of 13 Islamic Front militants and 6 SAA soldiers before the fighting subsided late Friday afternoon.

Harakat ‘Ahrar Al-Sham (The Liberation of the Levant Movement) attacked an SAA garrison near the Al-Manasheer Roundabout in the village of Al-Bureijj, resulting in their brief infiltration into the area. The SAA was able to regroup following the infiltration and successfully pushed the militants north towards the Aleppo Infantry School. During the clashes, the SAA killed the field commander of ‘Ahrar Al-Sham, “Abu ‘Ali Fahd”, before the latter withdrew from Al-Manasheer.