On Monday night, the Russian Air Force surprised the Islamist rebels of the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Coastal Brigades” with a multitude of airstrikes over their positions inside Jabal Al-Akrad (Kurdish Mountains), killing three of their highest ranking officers during an intense night raid in this mountainous area of the Latakia Governorate’s northeastern countryside.

Among the dead commanders from the Free Syrian Army’s 1st Coastal Brigades was their Chief of Staff, Captain Bassel Zimmo – a defector from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in 2011.

Captain Zimmo was reportedly attending a private meeting with the Free Syrian Army’s 1st Coastal Brigades Central Command before the Russian Air Force delivered a powerful assault in the Kurdish Mountains of the Latakia Governorate.

Following the Russian Airstrikes in the Kurdish Mountains, the Syrian Arab Army’s Special Forces – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF), the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), and Muqawama Souri (Syrian Resistance) – carried out a powerful assault inside the city of Tartiyah, striking the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” at the Kafr Dulbeh-Tartiyah axis.

This assault by the Syrian Armed Forces resulted in the death of over 30 enemy combatants from Jabhat Al-Nusra, including a number of foreigners from Chechnya, Dagestan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, and Lebanon.

According to a military source in Slunfeh, the Syrian Armed Forces and Islamist rebels are currently engaged in a violent firefight inside both Tartiyah and Salma – both sides have reportedly suffered heavy casualties as a result of these night battles.