Syrian fighters on Sunday, August 9th forced Bashar Assad’s military troops out of a number of villages northwest of this country, getting closer and closer to Assad’s coastal stronghold.
Government forces and their allied militants were forced to retreat to their bases northwest of the city of Hama as a result of this major attack that caught their units completely off guard. As a result the Syrian fighters took complete control over the area of Sahl al-Ghab.
The Sahl al-Ghab region is the defense line protecting west Syria’s coastal mountains. In response to this humiliating defeat the Assad army used a helicopter gunship to bomb the lost villages 89 times.
During the past few months Syrian opposition fighters have made major advances in a number of areas across the country, taking control over many regions including most of Idlib Province in the northeast.