Jul 7, 2015

For the past two days, battles in Aleppo stole the spotlight, only to wind down afterward. In Damascus, fierce battles were fought in Jobar, marring stability in the city, without bringing about any significant change to the map of power. Meanwhile, Syrian army forces and supporting factions continued with their advance into Hasakah, announcing full control over the eastern Nashwa neighborhood, reaching what's known as the electricity roundabout. This is in addition to advancements into al-Ghab, and the capture of four villages.

In Aleppo, despite the large-scale offensive started against the city from various positions in the past three days, Ansar al-Sharia, led by Jabhat al-Nusra, failed to achieve any infiltration or remarkable victory. Meanwhile, Fateh Halab [Aleppo Conquest] took advantage of the raging battles on the different battlefronts and advanced toward the western areas of Aleppo after its temporary control over the Scientific Research Center area, which protects the most delicate areas of western Aleppo. Then a huge defeat befell Fateh Halab after the Syrian army set up an ambush for the armed fighters of the Sham Revolutionary Brigades, leaving 10 fighters dead and taking around 25 others hostage.

As noted by an opposition source, this led to the eruption of disputes between the two operations, putting al-Nusra in a predicament, especially after the latter lost around 30 fighters — 10 of whom were first-order leading members — to a suicide bomb in a mosque in Aleppo's Ariha. At the same time, the Syrian army continues to fortify the shield around Aleppo through mobilizing reinforcements to the rear-end battle lines, and recapturing many buildings in the Scientific Research Center area.

The opposition source explained to As-Safir that on the first day of the launching of operations by Ansar al-Sharia, Fateh Halab decided to open parallel battlefronts in order to take advantage of the "dispersion of the Syrian army." He said that Ansar al-Sharia and Fateh Halab fought battles simultaneously, so much so that they formed an alliance in al-Zahraa neighborhood. The alliance then fell apart when 35 Fateh Halab fighters fell to an ambush set up by the Syrian army in al-Zahraa neighborhood after Jabhat al-Nusra fighters retreated from a nearby point and refused to support them. This led to the eruption of a dispute between the two rebel operations, which have been competing over announcing who has control, and seeking to steal the limelight for battles that lasted only for a few hours.

A jihadi source denied the accusations leveled against Ansar al-Sharia that it was responsible for the fighters falling victim to the ambush. He said that the "Fateh Halab leadership failed to achieve any victory in the past. What it did was attempt to take over the victories of Ansar al-Sharia." He noted that the "factions operating under the auspices of Ansar al-Sharia were disregarded when Fateh Halab established its command center, and here the latter is today looking to form an unannounced alliance with them, and try to steal their victories."