The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the National Defense Forces (NDF) and other pro-government units are working on creating the second pocket in the province of Homs after encircling a large number of ISIS terrorists in the area of Uqayrabat.
Government troops further advanced in the Sukhna countryside and along the Resafa-Sukhna road allegedly killing up to dozen ISIS members and destroying two vehicles. The Resafa-Sukhna road is a key area that government forces have to control if they want to shorten frontline in the area and to focus on the ISIS terrorists in Uqayrabat.
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Go SAA!
SAA don’t control also Najib Fields and Manuk?
Anyway…i would know how much militants are in the pocket. 200-600?
In a video someone that was surrendering said there were 680 fighters left in the pocket.
Yes, pockets are useless if you do not have the capability to destroy them fast, for example pockets around Damasco. Syria must take the decision to destroy the pocket soon and fast (very fast), otherwise it is useless to create them.
Well, you may see so. On the other hand, when they are inside the pocket they get no supplies and relatively small force can keep those scumbags inside the pocket. They are no more in active players. They are static defenders waiting assault by pro government forces. If they try to attack they exhaust their resources and speed up their ultimate destruction. They can surrender or eventually die.
Pockets can be very difficult to actively go in and deal with. Few hundred men entrenched in urban sector like east Damascus can be costly nightmare to dislodge. Likewise this area of east Homs is rocky and mountainous with high grounds that have defensive advantages. Keeping a pocket surrounded and isolated whilst moving the main front on is well established and common military strategy – in second world war masses of German soldiers were caught up in Courland pocket and unable to contribute anything to Germany’s defense whilst Soviets just kept them bottled up and moved the front on.
This Map shows that SDF has larger territory west of Tabqa than was originally known. Did they somehow push Tigers out from some points?
The SDF didn’t push the SAA out of any pockets , some of the people making these maps rely on internet sources and less on actual sources connected to the Syrian military and actual advances by the SDF which keeps taking the same area every week. Sometimes SF to keep everything cheaper use maps from other sources that may not be quite accurate,but will give a close to accurate accounting of the area mentioned in the article.