On Sunday morning, the Druze Civil Defense Forces surprised the militants from the Free Syrian Army’s “Southern Front” Brigades and their allies from Jaysh Al-Yarmouk and the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” with a powerful assault at the strategic hill of Tal Sheikh Al-Hussein, killing two dozen enemy combatants, while also destroying four armored vehicles before taking full control of this area.

Following their capture of Tal Sheikh Al-Hussein near the Tha’lah Military Airbase, the Druze Civil Defense Forces – in coordination with the Syrian Arab Army’s 52nd Brigade of the 5th Armored Division and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – carried out an assault at the Al-Kuwaiti Farms, where they were able to impose full control after a two hour long battle with the FSA’s Southern Front and Jaysh Al-Yarmouk.

In addition to their capture of Tal Sheikh Al-Hussein and the Al-Kuwaiti Farms, the Druze Civil Defense Forces and the Syrian Arab Army captured the hill of Tal Hajjar after the militants from the FSA’s Southern Front withdrew across the border to the Dara’a Governorate.

With the Syrian Armed Forces’ success at Tal Sheikh Al-Hussein and its surroundings, the latter has now expanded its buffer-zone around the southwestern perimeter of the Tha’lah Military Airbase to 16 square kilometers.