ISIS terrorits made a flanking manoeuvre (more about it here) and seized a key crossroad between the Tyas airbase and the city of al-Qaryatayn in the Syrian province of Homs.
The terrorist group also continued to put pressure on the Tyas Airbase (T4 Airbase) and on the Homs-Palmyra highway from the southern direction.
These attacks put government forces deployed in the Tyas Airbase under a threat of encirclement by ISIS forces. These gains became possible because ISIS units used their advantage in their manoeuvrability in the area.
Right now pro-government sources dissiminate reports that the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) were able to repel another ISIS attack on the Tyas Airbase. This is true. However, the threat of the ongoing flank attack by ISIS terrorists cannot be ignored.
There are reports that the Syrian army’s Tiger Forces and other pro-government units are now moving to assist in the battle against ISIS. If they arrive the area soon, the situation could be improved.
Click to see the full-size map
4000 ISIS soldiers here, 10000 SAA were in Aleppo, plus the 1000(?) or so currently in this area, should be easy peasy lemon squeezy! Personally, I’m going to suggest a three pronged assault; start in Ithriyah and go south/southwest. Then, from Salamiyah, go east. And from Tiyas, also head east. The goal is to clear that gigantic swathe between Palmyra, Ithriyah and Salamiyah, with two goals; to ensure that the Palmyra salient isn’t flanked on both sides by ISIS and also to deprive ISIS of their local bases, the villages east of Salamiyah. Without them, they have no staging grounds to plan future attacks, all they have available to them is open desert, and the air force can promptly deal with them. By doing all of this, the frontline from Palmyra to Ithriyah, currently in a ‘C’ shape, would become an ‘I’, halving the length that would need to be defended, shoring up troops to be deployed elsewhere as well as the aforementioned flanking and base denials to ISIS. For the life of me, I can’t believe that this hasn’t already been done. They tried to go to Tabaqa with again, a long and thin salient that ISIS completely surrounded like Palmyra, which was a total disaster, so their planners are clearly inept, but they have the resources to pull this off, particularly with Aleppo now secure and they need to do it pronto. Priority One lads, spread the word to Command!
The slowdown and abrupt cancellation of raqqa mission last year was the major flaw in decision making either it was infight between SAA and allies(Russia was against it) or just lack of resources in final moment. That momentum has atleast given some pushback to ISIS in those days. I agree now just being sitting targets in perimeter was an open invite for ISIS planners to go at it.
Tabqa op was launched within days of Kurd surprise river crossing to start Manbij op. Maybe syria believed ISUS would give in to double assauts and they could take airbase. This was not the case, ISUS brought in reinforcements from other fronts. Sirian forces had problem with timely air support (bases too far away), and zero helo support? This is why they needed Tabqa airfield, but they did get close! So much for holding salients against mobile ISUS squads and car bombs. The flanks where too long and open. Don’t thing Russia approved of the plan.
I agree. In my kind of words SAA also were kind of provoked by the kurdish advances, and stretched it too far.
Its a typical no thinking themselves army af the worst kind. They probatly didnt started to improve defencelines in Palmyra, because the – shit – leaders in Damaskus didnt give them a written note about it.
Not 10k they are 30k+ solders.
Well, they’ll want to leave plenty behind in case Turkey moves further south and if the militants try to attack the city. 10,000 should be enough, look at what ISIS have done with just 4000, the SAA have helicopters and planes too, should be doable.
Well, many counters seems to be hit by inflation, deflation and seemes to have lost fingers and toes as well.
Isis Palmyra counting is same thing and no sensible rapport of SAA loses exept for “many” – heavy and ISIS`s died in bunches.
Most of SAA soldiers in Aleppo have to stay there to defend it against possible threats from militants attacking from the west, or from the Turkish-backed rebels once they capture Al-bab.
But at least the special forces (like the Tiger brigade) can be redeployed where they are most needed.
T4 airport is important and will be protected but logistics are slow. Why not bring reinforcements using IL76 to protect the base(unless they are lacking in a longer runway?)
Russia has signal jamming technology with wide area coverage? ? US opp center for Drones over Syria and logistics is ….Incirlik?,…somewhere in Jordan? Erbil Iraq?
Supposedly Russia had some system jammer that…..and you go dark. Jihadi have to drive around on motorcycle like WW 1 to communicate.
Past weeks appears Syria and Russia are run around in confusion. Maybe it’s a language translation problem, Too many translators drinking and jet ski off Latakia beach?
they do but not sure if deployed in Syria
I am not a fortune teller and less a military strategist but it is very easy to foresee the evil objective of the ISIS sponsors with their allies in originating and planning the reconquest of Allepo and other advances. The idea is to take advantage of the few Russian men and planes in Syria that does not allow them to defend effectively more than one front at a time. And once the majority of the forces now present in Aleppo have been concentrated in the reconquest of Palmyra, from Turkey another wave of terrorist will arrive, apart from those already on the ground to reconquer all of Aleppo again but this time with the help of the Turkish army Directly involved. Why the hell Russia do not really get involved in helping his Syrian ally with enough airplanes and forces on the ground as does both Iran and Hezbollah and the Turks on their side?
Hello Terence. I think it was a one shot deal for ISIS. They are going to get rolled now. Just my take on it. Have a good evening.
As always, I hope you’re right, my friend, for the sake of my beloved Syria and the good of all his allies especially my beloved Russia. Thanks John and have a great an good evening you too.
Because exactly the next Wednesday, when enough of Russian forces would be available in Syria, some unknown entity, ahem, would be very tempted to destroy those forces. Russia learned their Afganistan lessons quite well. No Russian leader is going to commit too much troops to some other battlefield, so they could be destroyed far from home. This has defeated Russia in 1917, in Afganistan, too. I think they will avoid stepping on the same rake, this time.
I desagree with you my friend. Times have changed just like military tactics, not to mention the advanced technology of military hardware and intelligence tools. The proof is that at the beginning Russia had hundreds of aircrafts and men involved in the Syrian war and with that he managed to rescue his friend Assad from a sure disaster just in time in this moment. But today there are only less than 30 percent of that fleet operating involved in the conflict and it is not enough for the long and varied battle fronts. The fact is that Putin wants to show off his military superiority by fighting with very little resources compared to his western counterparts in order to expand both his ego and his arm market using Syria as a test and demonstration field while helping his ally. In war and politic what you see is not always what it seems.
We must remember that any war is won with a mixture of strong spirit, intelligent strategy, tactical ability and sufficient resources to apply them all together
Well, You forget some important matters. One is, that Putin promised to save Assads – mainly because of the bases. Thats why Assads got big help, which saved Assads.
They also told, it was for a period and it wasnt – virtually – to take all Syria back to Assads¨.
In there, You and many other seems to forget Russia with a BNP a la Spain might not effort to give more, then they do for now and in the future and they have kind of blocked Turks from some kinds of advances by their navy.
Truth, but only partialy. The main slowdown of operations started after the Saudi/Turkish two pronged planned attack on Syria, that had been stopped in the last minute – politicaly. +with some show of military force.
Right after the presidential election in the US, the US kongress agreed upon a plan to start so called “no fly zone” in Syria for Syrian aircraft.
Russia slowly understands that Anglo-Saxon empire, be it in the form of corporate US or the British Empire is the main enemy, who smiles nicely and waits for the crucial weakness to backstab.
Exposing troops would simply give opportunity to Anglo-Saxons to destroy crucial part of Russian forces in a textbook manner plus stage a coup d´etat in Russia – as to avoid nuclear responce.
Anyway russia has in Syria a base and hundreds of troops involved in the field in missions of support and designation of objectives, military training, assassinations of terrorist leaders, hundreds more involved in distribution of aids and meals and nothing of what you comment on has happened to this day. Then what would be the difference in bringing Russia more and enough resources to help Syria defend more fronts and make a better difference on the ground? And who do you think would dare to attack the Russians directly, triggering a nuclear conflict that is not convenient for anyone with some judgment today? I think it is a bit exaggerated your point of view regarding the risk to more participation of the Russians in Syria but I still respect it.
That what I spoke about is a very influential US doctrine. At least part of important corporate leaders etc. are flirting the theory. Look up data on the 5th column in Russia. Who is financing that. What are their aims and so on.
You might look up how exactly has been the 1917 revolution in Russia launched. Conditions and operations.
The only country that has the potential to start a war with Russia and had under some conditions a chance of success is the corporate US. Some Elites with their Stratfor and CFR think tanks are realy calculating such options.
Only think which would stop a retaliatory strike is a successful revolution in Russia. Otherwise the whole would be a suicide.
And I completely understand Your point of view. :-)
I suppose that the equation are not so linear worth it looks more like system of matricial inequation. In breef the matter is not so simple. But let’s start : the aim of the propaganda is to motivate people to join a cause. The purpose of both sides of propaganda exchange is to motivate peoples on humanitarian an justice base. A the first sight.
But these are only excuses, nobody here in the western part beleives in theses values anymore. So, the western aim of the propaganda is to push youth on the fight edge because of boring life. Finally some of them are going to the army and some of others are joining ISIS, al-Quaeda, YPG/SDF etc. This propaganda will show the SAA and the Russians as pittyful dirty players in order to dismantle all motivation to join them.
So this attack on Palmyra which is a false flag jordanian/saudi operation is aimed to disrupt the cooperation between Putin and Assad in order to isolate Iran from Russia and to push up some OPEP decisions. In my opinion this attack should be repelled by an atomic couterstrike south of Palmyra not far from the jordanian border. This will calm down the western media for a while because the syrians will show their ability to sacrifice themselves in order to stop ISIS even if they look weak.
Think You should join John Brown. And no more “wargames” exept the end, where they play tic-tac.
Family to Westmoreland ?
I don’t think the Palmyra needs any nuclear weapons. I meant if NATO and the USSA attack a country Russia has a mutual defense treaty with. that is what the USSA would do if it was the other way around.
I am glad Trump got in because the only difference I see between him and evil Hillary is that he does not want a nuclear war, which we probably would have had within a month or 2 of Hillary becoming president.
One good thing about this war is it shows the USSA is run be evil liars etc. who support Al CIA Da in Alleppo and West Syria ann ISIS in the east of Syria and Iraq. So any who doubt that 911 was done with the full support and participation of the USSA government are brain dead.
If turkey directly attacks Alleppo in such a way it will be time to use tactical nuclear weapons to vaporize the Turkish army and Al CIA DA.
Go back to the mental hospital. If You cant find it take a taxi.
Okay CIA what do you think will happen if the Turkish army attacks Aleppo? Russia will surrender to turkey? Insane Killary says that the USSA can attack Russia with 3,000 cruise missiles and not expect the same to happen to the continental USSA? Do you believe that?
The problem is ISIS will push from the East, other jihadists will push from Hama, South Aleppo and Latakia. At the moment SAA is faced two enemies at the same time from three fronts. Apparently ISIS and rebels are in mutual agreement mentored by the US. The war is not over yet.
Putin either Knows already. …or in the transition phase with Trump Holds this fractured Syria which gets reconstituted. ..with USA actually ending ISIS goes serious real.
If Not….It’s probably some jaded partition deal where Syrian resources get put on the NY stock exchange and other trade . Israhell and various Power groups from several offshore nat gas/oil ventures + Golan Pull Syrian wings off while Latakia gets Club Med Beach investments.
With Iran’s Mullah wackos groveling for Boeing Jet contracts, The Universe is signaling full court press crime spree. ..
Cover your eyes. ..
No, they are not pushed from 3 fronts. Im sure ISIS is not mentored by USA as well.
The objective here , in my opinion would be to force aerial resupply. This would prevent the SAA and Russians from using T4 as a staging point for retaking Palmyra. Aerial resupply would imply slow moving transports , which are easy targets for Turkish supplied manpads. As the SAA defences outside Palmyra have now been flanked somebody is hoping that the 1000 or so troops will fall back in panic to a more defensible line around T4. This implies the classic hammer and anvil tactics so liked by the US to spectacularly destroy these troops in the open desert and inflict a propaganda defeat on Assad very soon after his Aleppo win. All these moves are surely designed to disrupt the momentum and planning of the Russians and SAA after Aleppo. By keeping them off balance there is a hope that they will not concentrate forces in areas where they are dominant and prevent a systematic collapse of the rebels/Isis/Al Nusra. The Iranians need to step in and really fill Assad’s manpower gaps here to keep up the winning momentum. The Russians need to court the Kurds as much as possible to get on Assad’s side. Currently they are only being used by the US to keep Isis supply lines open.
With end of E Aleppo pocket, I am certain more SAA are arriving there or in transit. Deir Ezzor is resupplied by night flights and parachute drops, no need to fly in during day and risk the manpads. I don’t think Tiyas will fall, and the ISUS flankers may be attacked soon. Not sure how usefull airbase is right now, so close to front lines. Air assets may have pulled back to Shayrat airfield. Syria should keep on clearing the pockets, E Gouta should be #1. This would greatly help their manpower shortage. Now lets drop some white phosphorus on ISUS to celebrate Aleppo victory!
Rubbish.
Jens Holm , judging from your posts , you are either a troll or teenage boy that’s playing too many video games or playing too much with himself. Save your comments for now , stop your incessant self pleasuring , finish school , get a good tertiary education which includes English 101 then maybe , just maybe you’ll get lucky.
The 110% perfect spelling Fieldmarchalk is autistic too.
Remember the main enemy is the US or at least until the current administration is departed and let me focus on the “at least”. So the best to do is to ally with Turkey with terms stressing on that Aleppo city front won’t be disrupted thanks to Turkish support.
The current pressure should be raised on pockets around Damascus and Daraa and culminate to military victory or preferably reconciliation outcome. Most of operative ground forces should be redirected to Eastern Homs to retake a large swath east up to Arrak and fortifying all the hills surrounding western Palmyra’s vicinity ; Russia should not be shy of using nuclear weapons to achieve this deed (either you’re a superpower or you’re not !) Build the T-4 airbase and deploy Russian attack aircraft, Syrian MiG-29 fighters and S-400 air defenses with the Russian personnel to defend it and establish a definite air superiority in eastern Syria.
One more for the mental hospital.
it seems Russia is on payroll of Syria…..lol
An ISIS video of a Russian camp. The crappie Wash po. is the source and claims a Russian Pantsir s1 was captured. Some of this could be faked (bowls in the mess tent)
https://youtu.be/UjWb_NQjfgE
We are missing an analysis from South Front about How ISIS managed to sneak in to Tadmor front with such a large force. Lavrov mentioned in a quiet way last week that it was a gift from US friends but did not elaborate. Regular in depth analysis from SF would be very helpful.
Just like I predicted yesterday, I’m getting good at future-telling.