PHOTO: Pro-opposition journalist with fighters in Morek in northern Hama Province on Thursday

LATEST

FRIDAY FEATURE

Analysis: Why is the Army Remaining Loyal to Assad? Look at the Housing….

UPDATE 1600 GMT: “Senior sources close to” the Assad regime have admitted that the Syrian military’s six-front offensive — five of them against opposition-held areas — is troubled by rebel resistance and counter-attacks.

The two sources blamed Saudi support to rebels, including anti-tank TOW missiles, for the offensives advancing “more slowly than expected”.

“The support from Saudi Arabia for the opposition did not stop but it is now intensified in an unprecedented way, and it is this that has participated in slowing the operations, delaying big achievements on the ground,” said one official.

The second said, “Saudi is in a state of madness, escalating to the greatest degree.” He said increased supplies of the US-made TOW missiles to rebels had halted the offensive in the al-Ghab Plain in northern Hama Province.

Neither of the sources is Syrian. The Beirut by-line of the Reuters report indicates that they could be from Hezbollah or Iranian officials based in the Lebanese capital.

The officials insisted that the regime offensives are still on track. They said the front south of Aleppo, the one area where the regime offensives have made some progress, are the priority for President Assad and his allies, particularly Iran.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Rebels advanced across northern Hama Province in western Syria on Thursday, capturing the town of Morek on the Hama-to-Aleppo highway, villages, and hilltops.

The advance into Morek, retaking the town after more than a year, was the headline victory as rebels — led by the Islamist faction Jund al-Aqsa and including Ahrar al-Sham, the Free Syrian Army, and other elements of the Jaish al-Fateh coalition — captured 10 tanks and other armored vehicles.

See Syria Daily, Nov 5: Rebels Capture Key Town in Hama Counter-Offensive

However, the opposition also took territory both to the west and east of Morek. They seized the hilltop Tel Sukayk and the village of al-Shanabra. By Thursday afternoon, they were attacking Atshan — one of the last villages still held by the Syrian military after its October 7 offensive — asserting that dozens of regime troops were killed and three tanks destroyed.

On Friday morning, pro-opposition activists and observers are claiming both the capture of Atshan and Umm Haratayn.

A fighter in Atshan:

Rebels in Umm Haratayn:

A rebel tour of Morek in captured regime vehicles:

Russia Acknowledges Rebel Counter-Offensive

The rebel counter-offensive is another blow to the month-long, six-front offensive of President Assad’s forces, covered by Russian airstrikes and joined by Hezbollah and Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani forces. The assaults have gained little if any territory in Hama, Homs, and Latakia Provinces.

The only significant gain has been south of Aleppo city, where the foreign forces have led the attacks. Pro-regime activists claim up to 280 square km (98 sq miles) taken, but the offensive has yet to complete a significant objective, such as the capture of the town of al-Hader, to surround the divided city.

While insisting that the “terrorists” have been damaged, the Russian Foreign Ministry implicitly acknowledged the rebel success on Thursday. “They are launching a counter-offensive in some sections and are changing their tactics,” said spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

A Syrian military spokesman said only that the Army was “eliminating large numbers of terrorists in Kafr Naboudah and near Morek in Hama countryside”.

Video: Chechen Faction — We Defeated Russian Troops in Latakia Province

The Chechen faction Ajnad al-Kavkaz has declared a victory over Russian troops, fighting with regime forces, in Latakia Province in western Syria.

In a video posted on Thursday, a commander described the battle for a hill as a fighter next to him held up what was claimed to be Russian body armor:

They said that we all have been killed and destroyed. But, praise be to Allah, none of us are slain….The Russian troops fled, the fear of God in their hearts.

We managed to recapture the hill. Russian troops fled after leaving their body armor and machine guns.

Ajnad al-Kavkaz has fought in the Jaish al-Fateh rebel coalition in Idlib and Latakia Provinces.

Activists to Russia: Why Don’t You Show the Hospital You Bombed in Raqqa?

Activists have challenged Russia to show the hospital in Islamic State-controlled Raqqa that they say has been destroyed by Moscow’s bombing.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its warplanes have struck Raqqa this week, but declared the attacks were on military targets. They displayed this video of a strike on a bridge:

Abu Ibrahim Raqqawi, the director of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, responded on Twitter:

Raqqawi said the attack on the bridge was also one targeting civilian infrastructure:

Russia bombs the bridges [because] they know that the main water pipes who [provide] Raqqa’s water are on those bridges.

They want to cut water for the people — and from the beginning Russian airstrikes targeted almost every hospital in the city.

Rebels: We Have Not Met With Russians

Issuing a statement on behalf of rebels, the coalition Jaish al-Islam has denied any meetings with Russian officials.

Moscow has put out a series of statements in recent weeks claiming contacts with the Free Syrian Army and some rebel factions, as well as opposition groups. All have been denied by rebels and the externally-based opposition Syrian National Coalition.

Latest Russian Propaganda: “Our Airstrikes Enable Refugees to Come Home”

Russian State media headlines in its latest propaganda, “Successes of Russian Aerospace Force In Syria Enable Refugees to Begin Return Home”.

The story in Itar TASS rests on a declaration by the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun as he visited a Moscow exhibition center on Thursday:

The refugees stranded in Europe now fled there from the crimes committed by terrorists and some of them are really returning to Syria now and this is happening after the victories won by the Syrian Army with the assistance from Russian pilots, as we can see.

The Grand Mufti’s face the challenge of reality amid the six-front Syrian military’s offensive, supported by Russian airstrikes, over the past month. The United Nations said last week that at least 75,000 people have fled Aleppo Province, with activists putting the number far higher. And in eastern Homs Province, an estimated 40,000 people have been displaced by the latest clashes between the Assad forces and the Islamic State.