On Saturday morning in the Aleppo Governorate’s southern countryside, sources close to Al-Masdar News have reported that approximately 1,100 additional soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army’s 4th Mechanized Division arrived to the Syrian Government stronghold of Al-Safira in order to intensify their military operations near the strategic towns of Al-Hadher and Tal Al-‘Eiss.

According to the military reports, the Syrian Arab Army’s 46th Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division (formerly at Al-Zabadani) left their coastal headquarters in the town of Ras Al-Bassit (northwest Latakia) after receiving orders from the SAA’s Central Command to redeploy to the southern Aleppo countryside.

With the recent arrival of the Syrian Arab Army’s 46th Brigade on Saturday, the prestigious 4th Mechanized Division currently has 3 brigades operating in southern Aleppo: 46th, 82nd (based in Aleppo), and 155th (formerly in Al-Hasakah) Brigades; these military units are all under the command of General Maher Al-Assad.

Considered by many in the Central Command as the most elite infantry soldiers in the Syrian Arab Army, the 4th Mechanized Division was formed by Major General ‘Ali Haidar in 1984 after the disbandment of the Defense Companies (Saraya Al-Dafa’a); this division has been under the command of both Bassil (1987-1994) and Dr. Bashar Al-Assad (1994-1998) before being delegated to Maher Al-Assad.

Currently, the Syrian Armed Forces – backed by Hezbollah and Iraqi paramilitary units – are on the offensive in the southern Aleppo countryside after repelling Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham’s counter-offensive last week.