Sahl al-Ghab emerges as main focus of Syrian rebels' fight against regime

The strategic importance of the Sahl al-Ghab, a vital area that lies between Latakia, Hama and Idlib provinces, has been highlighted since early August by the eruption of violent clashes between Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) and troops loyal to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Events currently unfolding in the plain — which lies at the junction of three provinces and connects the Idlib region to the mountains of Latakia, the bastion of the Syrian president’s Alawite community — will most likely pave the way for future advances of the rebels in a region considered to be the regime’s strategic depth.

Violent clashes continue in the countryside of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib and Sahl al-Ghab in the northwestern countryside of Hama between Hezbollah and regime forces supported by militants from Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities against Jaish al-Fatah — which includes factions such as al-Haq Brigade, Jund al-Aqsa, Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Sunna Army, the Islamic Ahrar Movement, among many others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rebels have been eyeing the region with interest for various reasons. The region’s strategic importance lies first in the fact that it is considered as the entry point to the Alawite stronghold of the Assad regime, a community which has provided its most loyal officers and fighters. Second, Joureen in Sahl al-Ghab is considered as one of the supply lines in this region for forces loyal to the regime, and finally the base has been used as a launching pad for attacks targeting the Idlib province.

Nonetheless, the progression has been slow for the rebels. “The terrain is pretty flat and exposed, thus leaving regiments vulnerable to attacks,” Lt. Hassan Khalil, from the Soukour Jabal Group, told Al-Monitor