assad mistakenly thought he had achieved stable relations with his northern neighbor. the saa began demobilizing tens of thousands of reservists in july. many hezbollah troops returned to lebanon and were not replaced. many of the still mobilized saa troops were in the south around damascus because assad was worried the israelis might try something. those troops had to race north; hence why the advance was halted near hama which is about midway between damascus and aleppo.
Pirate