The armed opposition groups, operating in northern rural Hama, have aborted an Assad forces attack, with which they targeted the two towns of Tal Meleh and Jbain ــ located far deep in the area and considered “strategic.”

Today, on Thursday (June 20), Enab Baladi’s correspondent for rural Hama has reported several attempts at progress by the Assad forces, starting at daybreak. Their efforts synced to extensive air raids on areas in rural Hama and southern rural Idlib.

Three attempts have been made so far, the correspondent added, while no progress has been achieved on the part of the Assad forces, one tank of which has been destroyed by the opposition factions, in addition to deaths in their ranks during the incursion.

The militants of three of Assad forces’ groups have fallen either dead or injured in an ambush set up by the opposition factions near the Jbain town, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)’s Ebaa Agency reported.

The agency added that Assad forces have bombarded several villages on northern rural Hama’s fronts today morning in an attempt to advance on various axes.

According to what NFL has reported on its official platforms, it has targeted Assad forces with “Grad” missiles, while they tried to move further in the area; it has also rendered malfunction a tank, which it attacked with heavy artillery mortars, on the Tel Meleh front, northern rural Hama.

The attempt at progress came two days after the attack initiated by the opposition factions to take over the tow towns of Kafrhood and Jalamah in northern rural Hama, which resulted in no progress.

Despite the extensive shelling on the part of the Assad forces on the fronts in northern and western rural Hama, they failed to regain what they lost control over, especially since the latest of the opposition factions’ attacks is different from the ones that preceded it, in the sense that it shifted the battles to the regime-held territories, away from the areas controlled by the opposition, such as the town of Kafr Nabudah and the village of Qasabiyeh, southern rural Idlib.

In a former interview with Enab Baladi, Mustafa Ma’arati, the spokesperson of the Jaysh al-Izza (the Army of Glory), operating in rural Hama, said that the fronts of Tel Meleh and Jbain are “bone breakers”, as they “rubbed [the regime and Russia’s] nose in the dirt and crushed their might.”

Ma’arati added that Tel Meleh and Jbain are ruling areas, for they block the Muhradah- al-Suqaylabiyah, the reason why the regime wants to regain them as to reopen the road between the two areas.

Tel Meleh is a hilltop, where the opposition factions’ militants are fortified. In its northern part, the town of Jbain is located.

The sites, Tel Meleh and Jbain, that have been recently controlled by the opposition factions are located in northern rural Hama. They are considered strategic for two reasons: The first is that being in control of these towns, the opposition factions are obstructing the arrival of Assad forces’ reinforcements in the town of Kafr Nabudah and the villages in southern rural Idlib.

The second, however, relates to the area’s identity, for they have been affiliated with the regime for years and the opposition factions failed to advance deep in them despite their many attempts.