Syrian Republican Guards have seized territory in the Turkmen mountains overlooking Yayladagi in Turkey’s Hatay Province, an area that was once part of Syria but was annexed by Turkey in 1939. Fars News reports: The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade (commandos) of the Republican Guard and their allies are creeping towards the final rebel-held points along the Turkish-Lattakia border after another successful weekend that resulted in the government forces seizing the strategic village of Saraf and its surrounding heights in Jabal Al-Turkmen (Turkmen Mountains). Following the capture of Saraf this past weekend, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies finally seized the high ground above the Turkish border, giving them the logistical and geographic advantage against the extremist rebels of Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group) and the Free Syrian Army’s “1st Coastal Brigade”. On Monday morning, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade – in close coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF), the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), the Syrian Marines, and Liwaa Suqour Al-Sahra (Desert Hawks Brigade) – advanced further north in Jabal Al-Turkmen, seizing a number of small heights that overlook the Turkish city of Yayladagi in the Hatay Province. In addition to their advance in [...]