Syrian commandos seize strategic hilltop overlooking Turkey

The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade (commandos) of the Republican Guard had another productive day on Saturday, capturing the strategic village of Saraf near the Turkish border-crossing with Jabal Al-Turkmen (Turkmen Mountains) in the Latakia Governorate’s northeastern countryside. However, the day would not be complete for the Syrian Armed Forces if they did not seize another important site along the Turkish border.

As it turned out, this important site was a large hilltop that overlooked the Turkish border-crossing into the Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) controlled part of Jabal Al-Turkmen. The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade – backed by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), the Syrian Marines, the National Defense Forces (NDF), and Liwaa Suqour Al-Sahra (Desert Hawks Brigade) – imposed full control over Talat Al-Nawarat after a violent battle with Jabhat Al-Nusra, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Coastal Brigade”.

With both Saraf and Tal Nawarat capturedl, the Syrian Armed Forces are inching closer to seizing the remaining border points that have under the control of the extremist rebels since the summer of 2012. More importantly, with the capture of the remaining border points in northern Latakia, the Syrian Armed Forces are now on the verge of taking full control of the entire province.