Offense on Halfaya: Militants Run, Leaving Weapons Behind

At dawn, Syrian government forces and troops started their offensive on the city of Halfaya, the pillar of Al-Nusra terrorists in the Hama Governorate. The main battle is taking place there. Our military correspondent Evgeny Poddubny is reporting from Hama, Syria with the latest updates. In order to get back the positions taken by the terrorist groups, the Syrian soldiers basically have to free several residential areas. The biggest one, Halfaya, is right across from them. A little closer are the fortifications of the radicals. The offensive began on Sunday morning. After artillery prep, Syrian soldiers attacked the militants by Halfaya. Assault teams were able to dig in just outside the militants' northern defensive line. At the same time, artillery and combat aircraft make it hard for the terrorists to retreat. The operation, started by the radical Islamists, failed. The militants didn't meet their goals and even lost forces. The militants started to retreat, they even dropped their guns. As a result, our troops walked 16 km in just 24 hours. Let's keep it up. The radicals couldn't take over Hama, the 5th largest Syrian city, they also couldn't hold their positions on the outskirts. The radical Islamic State groups lost over 2000 people as well as numerous tanks and lightly armored vehicles. The militants' defense fell apart, thanks to the actions taken by the 5th assault corps and other units commanded by General Suheil Al-Hassan. In just 24 hours, radical Islamists lost over 15 villages. Our losses were serious, but they lost more. We couldn't just give them the city or part of the province. Now we are winning and the bad guys are running. During the actions of the government forces, with the help of Russian combat aircraft the blockade on the Christian town of Mhardeh was lifted. The majority of its residents are Christian Orthodox. Here, more than anywhere, they awaited the government forces to succeed. Maria Vladimirovna and her husband left the USSR for Syria over 30 years ago. She became a mother and a grandmother here. When the war began, she wanted to go back, but there was nowhere to go back to. The war started in a stupid way, if I may say. They were preparing for it a long time ago, but we didn't even see it coming. Because the first things that happened... were when the policemen walked around unarmed and were shot by the militants. She says that over the past 6 years of the crisis, the last week was the hardest. Radical Islamists make Christians into their slaves or simply execute them. But Christians didn't run from Mhardeh. They believed in victory. I just want the war to be over. We can handle everything else — no electricity, we can handle all the interruptions to the water supply, as long as there's no war. So that people wouldn't die for nothing, because they do. The impudent actions by the militants in the center of Syria weren't successful. Experts say these are desperate attempts to change something. After losing Aleppo, the militants are trying to prove to their sponsors that they're still capable of taking decisive actions.