The ISIS-held Jirah Military Airbase in the Syrian province of Aleppo is under a direct threat of encirclement from pro-government forces.
Since yesterday, al-Mashrafah, al-Kaysoumah and the important crossroad town of al-Mahdum. Thus, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) secured the western flank of the Jirah Military Airbase.
Now, the SAA and the NDF are advancing in the direction of Jarah Kabir, Atira, Duroubiyah Kabira and Mazyounat al-Humur. If these villages are captured by government forces, the main ISIS defense site in the area – the Jirah Military Airbase – will be encircled by government forces.
This will lead to an inevitable fall of the Jirah Military Airbase into the hands of the Syrian military.
On March 28, ISIS-linked media accounts reported that an ISIS suicide bombing had killed 9 Syrian military servicemen in the village of Zakiyah.
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I’ll bet €0.02 that once ISIS abandons the Jirah airbase and the SAA finishes its encirclement it will suffer the same ‘in limbo’ fate as Deir Hafer.
It is much easier to secure and demine an airbase than a city.
Maybe. I suspect that the SAA would have greater need of the Jirah Airbase being returned to active duty. On the other hand ISIS will probably have rendered it as useless as Tabqa airbase now is. And with Kuweires finally able to receive aircraft again they do now have an active airbase relatively close to the frontline.
Let’s just say that the only assault-effective SAA forces, the Tiger forces, are needed everywhere. They get rotated between the most critical frontlines when needed. I think the Aleppo countryside area isn’t as critical as, let’s say, Hama and Damascus.
My bet is that, when the encirclement of Deir Hafer was happening, HTS began the assault on Hama and Tiger forces had to get the hell out of dodge. I imagine that they would have entered Deir Hafer if they were given more time.
i wonder what happened to the ISIS hunters group?
They are stationed in Palmyra afaik.
im sure it can at least be used for helicopters for now
what do u mean in limbo fate?
should fall already 2 weeks ago. jihadists took palmyra in 1 day. shame for assads army, that 2 weeks are not eble to take this airbase. a would shot all officers responsible. after that would be order.
I think you fail to realize that Isis have absolutly no regard for loss of life in there own ranks. The SAA has a lack of manpower, so movment is slow to save lives. I’m sure this could have been done much faster, but against defensive positions it would cost to many lives.
no, in aleppo is 20:1 in favour of SAA. and lokk, in palmyra was 1:1 and isis tokk the city and +40 km.
and lack of manpower? under assad live 10,7 million people. how many kurds are there? their unmits have 80 000 fighters. the NDF will have soon 10 000 fighters. so, do not talk me tales about lack of manpower. assad has resources, heavy equipment, airforce, russinas, iranians, hezbollah. som, he should have oerwhelming manpower. in this view try think about SAA and miserable effectivity.
The jihadis (Daesh in the E, al-Nusra/al-Qaeda in the W) have thousands of foreign, fanatical mercenaries, armed by the US, financed by Saudi Arabia & American corporations. It’s a wonder the Syrians are doing as well as they are doing.
isis has 20-25 000. nothing. and 1 another thing. why kurds can beat isis??? ha? kurds have no tanks, no heavy equipment. your try to rescue the face of SAA is very laughly. :DDD
Why don’t you go down and reeducate the officers in the SAA? You would win this in a month! Hahahahaha
not month, but russian there are more than one and half year. and the saa has less gains then kurds. that is the reality. and be sure, i could better manage the war for syrian army.
ISIS have that many & more just around Deir-ez-Zor. The recent advances of the Kurds are due to American weaponry. and now the Syrians have the Israelis lobbing stuff at them. You’re obviously an armchair general – and a poor one at that.
john, joh, do you l isten yourself? the saa has russian weaponry and russia musch more uses aircraft then americans.
and be not fool isi has 30 000 fighters together in iraq and syria. you are either naiv or liar. ;)
Yeah, for all the critics out there I find it to be a down right miricale that the SAA and the Syrian state are still in the fight. That in it self is a miracle.
Quite the rant there Solomon:) Let me say it differently, and I’m sure we agree on this, the outfits in the SAA that have any degree of offensive power and skill are few and irreplaceable. Ok? Are you sure about your numbers and how long have you been in the armed forces (3 years here,quatermaster)since your understanding of military situations is so water tight. I will agree that corruption in the ranks of the SAA seriously hampers how effective combat operations turn out.
i was in miltary and had some examinations form tactics and strategics.
i tall you, kurds have more lacks of offensive power and dispite of this fact are better. i think the highest command is the problem. they stop attacking in thi maxiumum of momentum, nothing finished. look, atbqa was taken withmuschless manpower then deserts hawks. btw, from that time (failed offensive) there is no info about them. finally the saa lose more manpower with this tactics.
Ok, and yes- the transformation of the SAA has been SO SLOW. As far as I understand before the war Syria was divided into military districts (normal)where the C.O’S had semi autonomi(not normal)from the central goverment. This led to corruption and neglect. This is, as I understand it, one of the reasons the Iranians sent officers. And as far as I know there have been quite a few firing squads for treason and cowardace. I’m sure some people got shot after the loss of Palmyra, that was a scandal. I think the long term effect of Iranian and Russian specialists inbedded with the SAA will turn out positive.
look, you are right with this division of sirian army. but in the case of war this law had to be the first to cancel.
palmyra was a total disaster. what i did not undesrtood, why did not stay in western perimetry, of palmyra. there are mountins, optimal situation for defend for some days, until comes the republican gard. the second, why did not destroy the equipment? also russians left there lot of equipment. for me this is unexcusable.
have a nice day, bro! you are an intelligent guy, it is pleasure for me to discuss with you. and both of us want the best for SAA.
just a matter of time :D
Sure thing the Syrians really love the encirclement strategy. As proven by the battle of Aleppo – multiple encirclements leading into a total demoralization of jihadi faggots.
it really works lol