Via LWJ:

In mid-June, the Jaysh al Fateh (“Army of Conquest”) alliance began a new offensive targeting three villages south of the city of Aleppo: Khalsa, Bernah, and Zeitan. The jihadist-led coalition quickly claimed success.

Since the beginning of June, Jaysh al Fateh’s has widened its grip on the territory surrounding Khan Tuman, which was captured from Bashar al Assad’s regime and Iranian-backed forces in May. A push in early June expanded Jaysh al Fateh’s operating radius around Khan Tuman. This allowed its fighters to overrun the aforementioned villages later in the month.

The two most powerful groups in Jaysh al Fateh are Al Nusrah Front, which is al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and Ahrar al Sham, which models itself after the Taliban and has its own links to al Qaeda. The alliance includes several other fighting groups as well.

Jaysh al Fateh’s enemies in the area include Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen, members of the Syrian Arab Army, and Hezbollah’s jihadists.

The Syrian-Iranian axis suffered significant casualties during the clashes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 24 members of the Syrian military and allied militias were killed during the first day of fighting. That figure rose to 86 dead, including 25 Hezbollah fighters, according to SOHR. Casualty figures are often impossible to verify, especially in a chaotic war zone such as Syria. But it appears that Bashar al Assad’s loyalists and allies suffered serious blows. Dozens of Jaysh al Fateh’s fighters were reportedly killed as well.