On January 5, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced that its fighters had foiled an attempt by the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement to smuggle its remaining heavy weapons to the Turkish-occupied area of Afrin and captured several battle tanks and armored vehicles.
The radical group didn’t provide further details on this incident. However, the pro-opposition Sham Times news outlet revealed that HTS had captured seven battle tanks and eight infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), a day earlier.
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At the late hours of January 4, Russian warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on the opposition-held part of the western Aleppo countryside. Syrian pro-government activists said that the airstrikes targeted HTS troops, which were trying to take over the heavy weapons and ammunition of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement. There is a chance that the battle tanks and the IFVs were destroyed in these airstrikes.
HTS launched its attack on the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement at the beginning of January after accusing the group of assassinating four of its fighters. In less than a week, the radical group defeated al-Zenki, which is currently trying to move its remaining assets to the Turkish-occupied areas.
