Damascus: Syria’s chief-of-staff on Thursday declared a wide-ranging ground offensive by government forces, a day after Russian air strikes and cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea backed Damascus’ multipronged advance into two Syrian provinces.
In a rare televised speech, General Ali Ayoub said the Russian strikes have facilitated an expanded military operation to eliminate “terrorists” — a term the Syrian government uses to refer to all armed opposition to President Bashar Al Assad.
The Syrian ground push got a boost after Russian warships launched the cruise missiles into Syria on Wednesday, bringing a major new military might into the war on the heels of Russian air strikes that began last week.
“After the Russian air strikes, which reduced the fighting ability of Daesh and other terrorist groups, the Arab Syrian armed forces kept the military initiative and formed armed ground troops, the most important of which is the fourth legion-raid,” Ayoub said.
He added: “Today, the Syrian Arab armed forces began a wide ranging attack with the aim of eliminating the terrorists groups and liberating the areas and towns that suffered from their scourge and crimes.”
Syrian activists said government troops pushed from areas they control in the rural part of Latakia, into rebel-held areas in the province that is the heartland of Al Assad’s family and Alawite minority group. Latakia is the third province to see ground operations since Wednesday.
The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, said the troops moved from the village of Jorin into other parts of rural Latakia and Sahl Al Ghab, a vital plain that lies between Latakia, Hama and Idlib provinces.
Jaish Al Fatah, or the Army of Conquest, a coalition of rebel and militant groups that includes Al Nusra Front, operates in the area. Foreign fighters, particularly from Asia and China’s ethnic Turkic Uighur minority, have also a strong presence in the area, according to Abdul Rahman.
The Observatory chief said Thursday’s push was along the lines of rural Alawite villages there. The minority Alawites — an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which the Al Assad family belongs — make up most of the residents of the coastal Latakia and Tartous provinces.
Lebanon’s Al Manar TV, which belongs to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and which fights alongside Al Assad’s troops in several areas in Syria, said the Syrian army seized control of Al Bahsa village in Hama on Thursday.
Wednesday’s ground offensive by the government focused on a number of towns and villages in rural Hama and northwestern Idlib province, sparking intense clashes. Activist Ahmad Al Ahmad said rebels repelled government troops from at least one village.
Syria’s conflict, which began as an uprising against Al Assad in March 2011 but descended into a full-blown civil war, has so far killed 250,000 people, according to the United Nations.
