The Syrian Arab Army’s 1st Armored Division – in coordination with Hezbollah and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – is preparing for a large-scale offensive in the resort city of Al-Zabadani, where the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra” and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) are currently entrenched.

On Saturday, the 1st Division and the NDF continued where they left off on Friday, capturing a number of hills that overlook the city of Al-Zabadani after fierce clashes with militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra and Liwaa Suqour Al-Zabadani.

The 1st Armored Division was successful in capturing the hills of Sher Talqa and Sher Al-Joubat located west of Al-Zabadani and northeast of Kafr Yabous – the 1st Division killed a confirmed 16 enemy combatants, including ‘Amir Hussam Al-Mohsen, Khaled Jaleel Fawaz, and Ghassan Yasseen Saad (Lebanese).

Directly following the capture of Sher Talqa and Sher Al-Joubat, the 1st Division and the NDF moved their way to the small villages of Qarqamaz, Shaqeef Al-Hamer, and Ras Al-Khasha’at, where they were declared under Syrian State Government control before noon on Saturday.

North of Al-Zabadani, Hezbollah took control of Tal Al-Hinkel located just north of Faleeta after confronting a large Jabhat Al-Nusra contingent.