File image, Via SANA
Daraa’s former rebels have sent reinforcements to Syria’s central region to support the Syrian Arab Army ongoing operations against ISIS.
On April 23, a large convoy of the 8th Brigade, a unit of the army’s 5th Corps that is dedicated for former rebels in Daraa, arrived in the outskirts of the town of al-Sukhnah in eastern Homs. The convoy consisted of more than 70 military vehicles and carried 300 fighters.
According to the Horan Free League, 8th Brigade fighters established positions in al-Sukhnah and supported the ongoing operations against ISIS alongside other Russian-backed forces.
“The [8th Brigade] convoy was sent to fight alongside other Russian-backed brigades in the [central] Syrian desert,” a source told the local news blog.
Another batch of 8th Brigade fighters was reportedly sent from Daraa to central Syria on April 27. The batch was deployed in eastern al-Suwayda, in posts located between Deir Ezzor and Palmyra in eastern Homs.
The reinforcements are being led by Col. Naseem Abu Urwa, who defected from the army in the early years of the war only to join the reconciliation process in mid-2018.
Daraa’s former rebels joined the fight against ISIS in central Syria in February. The step helped unify forces against the terrorist group in the war-torn country.
8th Brigade fighters defeated ISIS in previous battles. In mid-2018, after joining the reconciliation process, the former rebels neutralized the ISIS-affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid Army in wester Daraa. Later in the same year, they helped drive ISIS cells out from northern al-Suwayda.
Good for these guys to now be fighting those who used to be their Ziowahhabi anti-Assad peers. But this indicates that Russia’s strike that supposedly killed over 200 ISIS Jewhadis and tons of equipments didn’t really affect the enemy. ISIS even attacked SAA positions before 24 hrs had passed after the news of that strike.
Which makes sense since ISIS/SDF and ISIS/US invasion areas in east Syria and al-Tanf are intact so the terrorist Ziocorporate globalists’ haven’t had any real loss and keep their “low-intensity” warfare against Damascus going.
Putin’s gonna have plenty of deals and negotiations to make with his business partners while Syria deploys more soldiers to maintain the status quo.
Nothing new!..what are doing US troops in Syria (north east part and Al Tanf)?…just to protect ISIS to justify troops deployed in Syria and Irak and close the main road between Damascus and Bagdad….ISIS members from Dara, Suwayda and Quneitra are now in Al Tanf under the mask of moderates…
But the fact is those US bastards are there,it won’t end until they are dealt with,more people will die.
I don’t see any solution until the intruders at Al-Tanf are sorted out. And there’s that other half of Syria east of the Euphrates, at least the oil fields. The SDF can be relegated to doing prison duty
Lets hope they don’t end up joining Isis.
I hope the Russians know what they’re doing, sending them to Homs while the Iranians and Hezbollah are arresting their relatives in Darra isn’t a good idea in my books, it doesn’t inspire any confidence that there’ll be any future cooperation between the 8th brigade and the Iranian supported NDF forces that are also operating in the area. The 8th brigade hate the Iranians and Hezbollah much more than they hate Isis, so deploying them in Iranian controlled territory and asking them to possibly cooperate with the Iranian backed NDF or Hezbollah seems a little too much to ask, especially since Iran and Hezbollah are currently taking over security in Darra and arresting many of their friends and relatives in the process, but what do I know, maybe they will cooperate together. As I said the 8th Brigade hate Iran, Hezbollah, and all the Iranian backed NDF militias much more than they hate Isis, so what happens when an isolated Iranian backed NDF unit, or Hezbollah unit is cornered by Isis and calls for 8th Brigade assistance, will the 8th Brigade rush to their aid and help them, will they take their time and cause unnecessary casualties, or will they ignore the call for assistance all together. I’m not really sure but obviously the Russians think they’ll rush to their assistance, and I hope they’re right. And it’s not just the 8th Brigade who dislike Iran and Hezbollah, most of the Russian backed 5th army Corps also dislike Iran and Hezbollah, not all of them but most of them, so I’m not expecting any spectacular successes against Isis in Iranian controlled territory, not unless the Russians and Iranians separate their forces and deploy them in separate areas of control. The Iranian command center for this area is located just a few KM southeast of As Sukhnah, which means they’re not very far away from each other now, so lets see just how well they get along when they’re living so close to each other. Hopefully none of the 8th Brigade soldiers get any commiseration letters from Darra, telling them one of their relatives has been arrested or killed at one of the new Iranian controlled checkpoints, that might be problematic for any future cooperation. This does solve a problem for Assad concerning his anti Isis operations in Homs, and it might with any luck solve a domestic problem for Assad in Darra, but it could also backfire both here and in Darra, and sadly that would cause Assad even more problems than he already has. So it’s fingers crossed time for me as I wish Assad and Russia the very best of luck with this new deployment, I think they’ll need it since the 8th brigade is probably the least loyal unit in the whole 5th army Corps.