Army secures Ethriya-Khanaser road, liberates a number of villages in Hama countryside

Hama – The Syrian Arab Army, in cooperation with the supporting forces, launched wide-scale military operations against terrorists in northeast of Hama countryside with the goal of restoring safety to villages in al-Rahajan area and securing the Hama-Aleppo road.

In a statement to SANA, a field commander said that army units started military operations in this area on October 25th, with these operations focusing on destroying Jabhat al-Nusra’s fortifications along an area extending 30 km along the Hama-Aleppo highway from the north of Ethriya and Sheikh Hilal village on the highway.

The commander added that army units concentrated on eradicating terrorists, backed by the Syrian Air Force, through destroying terrorists’ command centers and targeting their vehicles and cars which come from Idleb to bolster the ranks of Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists.

He said that the Syrian Air Force eliminated a large convoy for Jabhat al-Nusra consisting of 8 heavy carriers transporting tanks which was coming from al-Boweider village 60 km north of al-Sa’en town.

The army units continued to advance to break through towards three areas: the area between al-Shahatiyeh and Khirbert Rasem al-Ahmar northwest of Ethriya, the area of Rasem al-Sawan north of al-Shiekh Hilal, and Jwai’ed in the center, putting large pressure on all fronts and inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists, the commander added.

The army operations resulted in establishing control over a number of villages, particularly al-Shahatiyeh, Jib al-Abyad, Jib al-Jamalan, Raem Miyal, Rasem al-Sawan, Khirbet Rasem al-Ahmar, Rasem al-Rahraha, al-Khafiyeh village, al0-Meshirfeh farms, Abu lafeh, Mraiqeb al-Jamalaneh, Wadi al-Zarzoub, al-Ertiwaziyeh, Jwai’ed, and Sham al-Hawa, and finally the army established control over Sarha town, one of the largest al-Nusra strongholds after al-Rahajan.

The field commander pointed out that the army’s advancement in the northeastern countryside of Hama province will enable it to conduct further deployment in significant points that will provide fire control, prevent the advance of terrorists towards safe areas, and clear the villages in this area, particularly the strategic town of al-Rahajan.

Thanks to those achievements, the army was able to secure highway from the east of al-Sa’en to Ethriya after eliminating more than 100 terrorists affiliated to Jabhat al-Nusra and destroying a number of their vehicles, some of which were equipped with heavy machineguns. The army also dismantled scores of explosive devices and uncovered a field hospital which the terrorists had been using.