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In the province of Raqqa, the ISIS terrorist group is advancing on the Syrian Arab Army along the Sukhanah-Tabaqa road. ISIS militants have taken control of Khirbat Zaydān and Bir Abu al `Allaj, moving close to the Zakia crossroads. 23 SAA soldiers have been killed and 49 injured during the ISIS counter-attack. Heavy clashes are ongoing.
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Had the SAA taken defensive positions near Ithryiya, they could have used the whole of the Raqqa attack force in southern Aleppo.
They threw away a strategic asset for a possible propaganda victory, now turned to dust.
I’m not surprised that ISIS threw everything at the SAA advance on Tabaqa airport because that would have cut ISIS in half and isolated most of ISIS from Turkey. The SAA would have held a corridor all the way to lake Assad and the Kurds pretty much hold the far bank, except for some coastline.
My dad had an expression, your eyes were too big for your stomach. I wish the Russians had sent in a motorized infantry unit to take Tabaqa military airport to free up all the SAA units to operate in Aleppo. Unlike others, I don’t think this drive is a PR move. I see it having strategic value but it does not look like the SAA has enough troops to fight both ISIS and Al Nusra at the same time.
I know that the Russians don’t want to find with ground troops but I would just want them to take this corridor, seize the Tabaqa military airport and hold it to give the SAA time to whip Al Nusra at Aleppo. Holding this corridor would start the starvation of the Raqqa ISIS territory.