IMAGE: Jisr al-Shughour near the Turkish border, filmed by rebels just outside the key town

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UPDATE 1900 GMT: Unconfirmed reports claim that regime forces were able to retake Tal Hamakah — one of two hills earlier captured by rebels to cut the M4 highway between southern Idlib and Latakia — after 44 airstrikes and multiple attacks with Grad rockets.

Pro-opposition outlets are claiming that rebels took the Zayzoun thermal power station near the highway (see map), prompting more regime air raids:


UPDATE 0930 GMT: Reports indicate that rebels have cut the highway from southern Idlib to Latakia after taking regime checkpoints on the hills of Tal Hamakah and Tal Muntar (see map).

The Syrian military has responded with airstrikes.

The cutting of the highway not only supports the Idlib-Hama offensive. It also adds to the pressure on the regime in the month-long battle south of Idlib, captured by rebels on March 28: the Syrian military will be unable to reinforce embattled units from the Mastoumeh and Qarmeed camps (see entry below) to the town of Ariha.

The storming of the Tal Hamakah checkpoint, captured by Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham:

Footage of smoke rising from an airstrike:


Syria’s rebels made notable advances on the second day of their offensive across southern Idlib and northern Hama Province, moving close to the key town of Jisr al-Shughour and taking areas in the al-Ghab Plain to the south.

The rebel coalition includes the Islamic Front, with factions such as Ahrar al-Sham, and other groups such as Ansar al-Sham, Jund al-Sham, and Jabhat al-Nusra. Sources say more than 10,000 fighters are involved in an offensive planned since the end of 2014.

The rebels took checkpoints on the edge of Jisr al-Shughour, located on the highway from Aleppo to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, and fought regime forces in a sugar factory. Local sources said some opposition fighters were inside the town.

However, the sources cautioned that any battle to claim the town is likely to be protracted and tough, saying it will be more difficult than the four-day takeover of the provincial capital of Idlib in late month. Thousands of Syrian troops are inside Jisr al-Shughour. The sources say “shabiha” militia will probably put up a stronger resistance than elements of the Syrian Army who are often demoralized.

Pro-Assad outlets also reported fighting at the northern entrance of Jisr al-Shughour on Thursday.

The advance on Jisr al-Shughour is only one of the offensive’s multiple fronts. To the south, rebels are hoping to claim the regime’s vital Idlib-Hama corridor, linking the northwest with Assad strongholds in Latakia Province in the west, by occupying the al-Ghab Plain.

On Thursday, the Free Syrian Army claimed that it took a checkpoint and several buildings in the village of al-Sirmaniyah in al-Ghab. The al-Mashyak checkpoint was attacked with heavy machine guns, and there were clashes near. the village of al-Qahira.

The pro-Assad al-Masdar News claims that rebels were held up at Sirmaniyah, failing to take the entire village.

A 14-minute montage from pro-opposition Halab Today TV of rebel operations:

Image of fighting in Jisr al-Shughour this morning:

Rebel heavy weapons strike regime position on hill above Ariha:


Report: Syrian Intelligence Chief Dies, Weeks After Beating on Orders of High-Level Official

Rustom Ghazaleh, the Assad regime’s long-time head of political security, has died weeks after a beating by bodyguards of another high-ranking intelligence official, according to the pro-regime Al-Mayadeen.

Syrian State TV has yet to carry the news, but other pro-Assad outlets spread the claim.

In late February, Ghazaleh was dismissed from his post. He reportedly told Syrian fighters, whom he recruited to protect his village of Qarfa, that Qardaha — the ancestral hometown of President Assad — could be taken by the rebels but that Qarfa must never be lost. Claims circulated that he had been wounded in the shoulder, either by shrapnel during fighting or by a gunshot punishing him for the insult to Assad.

Reports then followed that the head of political security, who was also the head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon before Damascus’s forces withdrew in 2005, had been summoned to the office of Lieutenant General Rafik Shehadeh, the head of military intelligence. Shehadeh’s bodyguards beat Ghazaleh and dumped him at the door of a Damascus hospital.

Ghazaleh spent days in intensive care, but was reportedly released from the hospital in early March.

See Syria Daily, March 7: Former Head of Political Security Ghazaleh Leaves Hospital After Beating — Or Shooting — and Dismissal

Shehadeh was also dismissed by President Assad following the incident.


Central Bank Devalues Syrian Pound by More Than 30%

In a sign of the regime’s worsening economic situation, the Central Bank devalued the official rate of the Syrian Pound by more than 30% on Thursday.

The Bank set the Pound at 256:1 vs. the US dollar, compared to the previous rate of 188:1.

The step came after the market rate of Pound rose above 300:1, the weakest position since US military intervention was feared in August 2013.

Trying to save foreign reserves, the regime took a series of steps this month before the devaluation. It commanded exporters to sell all their foreign currency to the Bank, and Syrian security forces have reportedly raided commercial premises and even residences looking for foreign holdings.


Regime Holds Off Jabhat al-Nusra Assault on “Brick Factory” Camp, South of Idlib

In the month-long fighting south of Idlib, entrenched regime forces held off a Jabhat al-Nusra assault on the Qarmeed camp — known as the “Brick Factory” — on Thursday, but more attacks are expected today.

Reportedly using vehicle-borne bombs, mortars, and shells, the Islamist faction took four checkpoints and a potato factory to the east of Qarmeed and challenged the camp through the day.

Jabhat al-Nusra was unable to break into the fortified complex, but persisted with mortars and shelling last night.

Jabhat al-Nusra fighters near the camp:

A report by prominent opposition activist Hadi al-Abdallah:

Rebels and the regime have been fighting for a month south of Idlib, since the opposition claimed the provincial capital on March 28. So far Syrian troops have held out in the Mastoumeh camp as well as Qarmeed, but have failed to push back the assault by retaking nearby territory.

However, further to the south near Ariha, Syrian elite forces have been able to take three villages to relieve some of the pressure from that direction.


Video: Injured Afghan Fighter is Questioned by Rebels in South

Footage from the Southern Front rebel bloc of an injured Afghan, fighting for the Assad regime, being questioned after his capture:

Iran has been sending Afghan immigrants, with promises of money and residency, to fight alongside Syrian forces.

Opposition outlets have shown a series of videos and pictures of Afghans killed and captured in last week’s failed attempt by the Syrian military to take Busra al-Harir in Daraa Province in southern Syria.

Another of the captured Afghan fighters:

Rebels dancing with a captured Afghan: