Retired officer to ST: Syrian Army’s victories in southern battle

Strategic and Military expert, retired Brigadier-General Haitham Hassoun has affirmed that the Zionist enemy [Israel] has lost its big bet on terrorist groups to establish a buffer zone in the south of Syria amid keeping the state of chaos in the country.

He told the Syriatimes e-newspaper that the Israeli enemy lost its effect on the Syrian arena and its main goal now is to return to the 1974 Agreement on Disengagement.

 “The recaptured hills, which extend from the eastern slopes of Jabal el-Shaykh to the hills of al-Mal, mas’hara, al-Harra, al-Jabeyeh and al-Jomo’a and other scores of hills, are the first line of defense against Zionist enemy,” the retired BGen said, asserting that the Syrian Army completed its military operations in the western and eastern sides of Daraa countryside, except ISIS-held Yarmouk basin area.

He stressed that Syrian Army will liberate Yarmouk basin area from ISIS terrorists in the forthcoming battle there.

 “The Israeli enemy has received no guarantees from the United States and Russia about the deployments of Syria’s allied forces in the south of the country,” the retired BGen Hassoun said.

 “The Zionist enemy ordered the terrorist groups it support in Quneitra not to engage in a battle with Syrian Army units near the border with the occupied Golan in anticipation of rocket attacks to be carried out by these terrorist groups on its sites in order to force Israel to involve in the battle,” the military expert expressed his own opinion.  

Talking about the expected scenario in the north of Syria, the retired BGen Hassoun said the scenario of the liberation of the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus is more likely to be repeated in the forthcoming battle to liberate Idlib, but the battle will be fiercer than the current battle in the south of Syria and there will be big reconciliation deals.

Interviewed by: Basma Qaddour