Moments ago in the Latakia Governorate’s northeastern countryside, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard – backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) of Qurdaha, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), and Muqawama Souri (Syrian Resistance) – launched a large-scale offensive in the Al-Nuba Mountains (Jabal Al-Nuba) and the village of Burj Al-Qusib, targeting the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” and the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Coastal Brigade” at the southern perimeter of these sites.

According to a military source in the city of Slunfeh, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies have shifted their focus to Jabal Al-Akrad (Kurdish Mountains) after spending the last 72 hours at the Jubb Al-Ahmar and Jabal Al-Turkmen (Turkmen Mountains) fronts in northern Latakia.

The military source further added that the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies are attacking the southern perimeter of Kabani in the Jubb Al-Ahmar area after they captured Point 1154 from the Islamist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra, Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham, and the Free Syrian Army’s “Liwaa Suqour Al-Ghaab” yesterday.

Since the inception of this wide-scale Latakia offensive, the Syrian Armed Forces have captured several hundred kilometers of territory from the Islamist rebels, including the strategic towns of Ghammam, Katf Ghanimah, Jubb Al-Ahmar, and Deir Hanna.

The end goal of this large-scale offensive in northern Latakia is to recapture the Turkish border-crossing in the Turkmen Mountains that has been under the control of the Islamist rebels since the summer of 2012.