Battle of Kabani. Trench defeats the firepower.

On December 29, 2019, the 4th Division of the Syrian Army announced that "after achieving the desired goals in Lattakia" it will transfer its units to Aleppo for "new victories". But there was a reason that it is not clear what the goals were. The Syrian Army has lost hundreds of men and dozens of armored vehicles, tanks and excavators in countless failed attempts to capture the strategic city of Kampani and its fortified mountain range, Jabal Zuwayqat.

Government Forces 

As of May 1, 2019, the 4th Division, which according to a military source in Damascus had as a spearhead the elite 42nd Brigade (Ghiath), was stationed at the Kafr Naboudeh front, in northwestern Hama. Forces of the militia (NDF), the local auxiliary corps (LDF), the Christian religious unit "Guards of Dawn", the SSNP (Syrian National Socialist Party), the "Free Palestinian Movement" and the "Tiger" forces were operating together. (now renamed the 25th Special Operations Division)

Jihadist/Rebel forces

Throughout the operations, the rebels carried out counterattacks against the insufficiently fortified outposts throughout the mountain range and in eastern Lattakia. The insurgents consisted from Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS, Levante Liberation Organization), the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), the Islamist Faylaq Sham and the jihadist Awakening of the Faithful. Smaller Sunni groups such as the Kosovo Albanian Xhemati Albani, Kurdish Harekat Salah al Din al Kurdi, Tatarstan men Junud al Makhdi, Jaysh al Izza, Turks from the "Syrian Turkmen Brigades" played a key role . The number of Uighur Turks and Uzbeks in the jihadist groups was also significant.

Operations

1. The 4th Division "swamps".

On May 8, the operation was auspicious for the Syrian Army with the occupation of hill 1154 by the 42nd Brigade of the 4th Division. On the 15th of the same month, the Deputy Commander of the Air Force, Gassan Ismail, arrived. Ishmael intended to take command of the military operations with a concentration of several units: regular units of the Syrian Army, auxiliary units such as the border guards and the militia, elites such as the Republican Guard and the 4th Division, allied militias and especially the Tiger forces. However, the 4th Division, under the command of Colonel Gait Dalah, refused the help of most of these forces and continued the attack with only minimal support from some auxiliary units.

As in any modern war, the opponents "certified"

occupation or rival losses by audiovisual media.

From 12-16 May all the efforts of the 42nd Brigade to advance had the cost of several dead and wounded without any territorial gain. Especially on the first day of the operation, chaos prevailed as the Syrian Army had 45 men missing, 25 of whom eventually returned to the friendly lines in an adventurous manner. About 40 men were killed and the guerrillas lost much less.

(Photo) Advance of Syrian infantry under enemy mortar fire. The Syrian infantry

was "betrayed" by the mistakes of his leadership and showed remarkable perseverance

despite the obvious pointless bloodbath.(source: Int.Review)

Reports on Social Media and Mass Media spoke of well-equipped fighters, with good preparation and excellent knowledge of the ground. From 19 to 21 May the attacks continued unabated. A key factor in the new failures was the launch of attacks from the exact same point, with the HTS and TIP fighters easily holding their positions and inflicting heavy losses on the attacking divisions in the predictable direction. Minor skirmishes took place until May 24.

(Photo)Typical guerrilla trench in Lattakia.

Most of the attacks on Jabal Zuwayqat involved the development of small infantry groups - from 5 to 15 men. Sometimes the infantry was supported by one or two armored vehicles or shots of mortars and artillery but with low efficiency. The armored vehicles used included BMPs, tanks of various models (T-55, T-62, T-72), improvised armored bulldozers and tracked vehicles, which provided protection to the exposed hill .

(Photo)Syrian MBT out of battle. It is characteristic of the fierce battles the "lunar" landscape from shots from both sides.(Source: HTS Official Account)

2. Stagnation and raids.

A new fruitless attack on June 3 was followed by a raid by a rebel group on the Jebal Turkman outpost, killing six militiamen, including the battalion commander and a captain, and a video was posted from the scene. The guerrillas used multiple BM-21 Grad launchers as artillery support. The Syrian Army made another attempt on June 11 but was unsuccessful with significant losses on both sides. On June 17, a raid on the village of Ain al Achra resulted in the death of 7 men belonging to the Syrian Navy

(Photo)T-72 tank of the Syrian Army supports an attack.The additional shielding of the tower is noteworthy.

By the end of the month, the opponents were consumed in sporadic skirmishes, sniper fire, mortar fire and ATGM (Anti Tank Guided Missile).

3. Revival of battles.

On July 1st, the Syrian Army launched a new bombardment barrage with airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles in the mountainous Zuwayqat area of ​​northeastern Lattakia. At that time, there were the first reports of the reinforcement of the Syrian Army with forces of the elite Republican Guard. The "entry" of the Russian Air Force, on July 3, with successful strikes that left behind more than 15 dead in the rebels, raised the morale of the SAA soldiers.

However, on July 9, the jihadists/rebels launched a major offensive against the settlement of Jabal Kanisa, south of the Turkish border. The rebels attacked three different positions around the hill with remarkable discipline, killing at least 40 opponents and capturing 3. The Syrian units involved in the attack included the 11th Border Guard Regiment, the local militia, SSNP men and 144th Brigade

The fighters made great use of the element of surprise. They did not use mortars or heavy machine guns, but quietly approached enemy positions using their infantry weapons (AK-47/74 and RPG-7/22/26), in which they had previously been trained, simulating the area exclusively for this operation. The attack was carried out by the Salafist / jihadist group "Awakening of the Faithful", which has a large number of Chechen, Saudi and Moroccan fighters. The rebels in those days had lost 15 men, some of whom may have been involved in the successful raid.

(Photo) Map of operations of 17-19 July.

However, the Syrian air force, along with the Russian air force, intensified the bombardment with additional casualties for the rebels, including a significant one, Abu Omar al-Daik, the local leader of Faylaq al Sham. On July 28, the Syrian Army launched a new offensive, after a strong artillery preparation with the main axis of attack on the southern slope of the Zuwayqat Mountains. Despite the intensity of their attack, the Syrian Arab Army was unable to break the enemy lines after several hours of fierce fighting.

According to a military source in northeastern Latakia, the Syrian Arab Army had suffered 14 casualties from the Tigers and the 42nd Brigade - mostly by mortar fire - and an unknown but significant number of wounded. In the following days there were no significant clashes, only skirmishes. After all, a ceasefire had been in place since 1 August, but it was extremely short-lived as hostilities resumed after 5 days.

On August 13, the 4th Division adopted a new strategy to occupy Jabal Zuwayqat. Armored bulldozers along with escorts of tanks and infantry teams would create embankments on the blood-stained hill to consolidate the positions and become a point of departure for further operations. The first bulldozer was quickly destroyed by rebel forces using ATGM (Anti-tank guided missile). Nevertheless, the Syrian Army finally managed, with the spearhead of the 42nd Brigade, to capture 2 hills on the mountain, which gave until then the rebels / jihadists a significant advantage.But while satellite imagery showed that bulldozers were successfully building a number of small trenches, new attacks ultimately failed the strategy by destroying each excavator. Between 13 August and 29 September, the confirmed death toll reached 20.

.

(Photo)Mount Zuwayqat, view from drone. Syrian soldiers can be seen on the leftArmy to retreat after another failed attack in September 2019.

4. The last attack.

In a last-ditch effort, reinforcements arrived from the 5th Division as well as the Hezbollah-trained Quwat al Ridha. Between October 24 and 31, 15 more soldiers were killed and rebel casualties were lower.

(Photo)The hill was a graveyard of Main Battle Tanks, excavators and others of Syrian Army vehicles. Photo from the official HTS account, October 2019.

On November 1st, the opposition fighters attacked with another massive, coordinated attack on the eastern front of Latakia. Groups of rebel fighters hit positions in Tel Malik, Tel Rasa and Tel Tubal. The rebels managed to kill the commander there, Colonel Wael Fadhl, a veteran of the Lattakia battles for years. At least 22 soldiers were killed, including members of the 4th Division, the Navy and the Tigers, as well as Iranian-backed militias Saraya al Ra'ad and Liwa al-Mukhtar-al Thiqfi. Attacks on Kampani continued almost immediately and at least 27 other Syrian Army fighters were killed attacking Mount Jabal Zuwayqat in November, mostly from the 4th Division. The operations continued with less intensity until December 22, when the 4th Division withdrew to the western Aleppo front for "new victories", according to government statements.

(Photo)Typical HTS fighter. The fighters there, like TIP, were well equipped, with thermal goggles a great advantage over opponent.

5. Conclusions

This defeat of the Syrian Army was unusual during this period. Easy or difficult, with the help of the Russian air force, gaining experience, he managed until then to bend the rebels and eliminate their pockets everywhere in the Syrian territory and several times with overwhelming victories.

But here were factors that led to bloody failure. Initially the many fortifications, the scattered places with favorable geography and the use of long-range atomic weapons (snipers) equipped with thermal cameras.

Following something that we encountered in the wars in Chechnya, the guerrillas of HTS, TIP and other units literally fought "with the shovel". Labyrinths, countless tunnels minimized their losses and put them in an extremely favorable position against the Syrian Army. Significant was the personal equipment with thermal cameras, especially for night raids. The Syrian Army has officially announced that it has lost 259 soldiers in the aforementioned period, however the total number is estimated to be much higher with the writer's estimate at 400-500 dead and perhaps twice the number of wounded. The guerrillas also suffered significant losses, clearly smaller, but a large number of them came from air strikes.

 (Photo)Syrian Army tanks are being fired upon by enemy mortars. The lunar terrain of the hill provides a clear picture of the intensity of the battle.

Sources

1.Al Masdar News.

2. «Battle for Kabani: A rare defeat for the Syrian Army in 2019, International Review, Global Analysis».

3.Syrian War Daily.

4.Masar Press Net.

5.Twitter / Qalaat al Mudiq, Caliber Obscura, XI, Gregory Waters.

6. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

7.Islamic World News.