The Druze Civil Defense Units – in coordination with the Syrian Arab Army’s 5th Armored Division and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – have taken advantage of the Free Syrian Army’s passiveness near the Tha’lah Military Airbase over the last 24 hours by launching their own assault on the aforementioned group’s positions in the western countryside of the Al-Sweida Governorate.

According to a military source in the Al-Sweida Governorate, the Druze Civil Defense Units carried out an assault on the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Brigade” and Jaysh Al-Yarmouk at the hills surrounding the Al-Sheikh Hussein Mountains in the Al-Sweida countryside, killing 14 enemy combatants and capturing the southern hills before firefights dissipated on Wednesday night.

The Syrian Armed Forces’ success at Jabal Al-Sheikh Hussein came 24 hours after the Druze Civil Defense Units captured the village of Sikakah near the Tha’lah Military Airbase, paving the way for a small counter-attack in the western countryside of Al-Sweida.

For the Druze of Tha’lah village, creating a buffer-zone around the Tha’lah Military Airbase in the western countryside of Al-Sweida is imperative to the protection of the provincial capital that sits approximately 15km from the enemy’s positions near the Dara’a Governorate’s border; this is also a strategic airport for the Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command because of their reliance on this base to launch airstrikes around their stronghold of Izra’a.