An Iranian-led offensive has failed to recapture territory south of Aleppo that was seized by Syria’s rebels last Friday.
The Iranian forces headed the fourth attempt in two days to take the town of al-Eis on the Aleppo-to-Damascus highway. Rebels said they repelled the assault and inflicted heavy casualties.
The pro-regime Al-Masdar News initially asserted that al-Eis and nearby hills had been recaptured. However, it later retracted the claim.
Citing an Iranian Revolutionary Guards soldier, Al-Masdar said: “No ground forces stormed the area, despite early reports from pro-government social media accounts that asserted Tal Al-‘Eiss was under Syrian Arab Army control.”
The site did not deal with the rebel reports of heavy casualties from a failed attack.
However, the blogger who runs Al-Masdar News, Leith Fadel, acknowledged that there is “very little Syrian Army at this front right now”.
Both al-Masdar and opposition activists report that Russia has undertaken its first aerial operations in Aleppo Province since the February 27 cessation of hostilities, bombing al-Eis, ICARDA farms, and nearby roads.
Iranian Intervention
In a lightning operation last week, rebels and the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra regained areas lost to the regime-Russian-Iranian-Hezbollah offensive from last October. They took hills near al-Eis, as well as the town, and advanced on the town of al-Hadher.
After the rebel success, Iran announced that it was sending Army special forces, including the 65th Brigade, to the battlefront.
The pro-regime accounts say the 65th Brigade led last night’s attack. Pro-opposition activists are reporting the deaths of Iranian troops, including colonels — one account is claiming 50 Revolutionary Guards, 11 Iran-led militia, seven Hezbollah, and three Syrian militia — and posting Iranian media’s photos of funerals:
Despite the casualties, Iran’s State outlet Press TV is making no reference to any Iranian involvement. Instead, it says, “The Syrian army has launched an attack.”
Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, is still insisting, “The winning back of the strategic town of al-Eis and its adjacent hill in Southern Aleppo on Wednesday morning was a crucially important step paving the way for the Syrian army to move to Idlib Province.”
Al-Eis this morning:
