This map shows the military situation in the countryside of Palmyra after the recent advance of the Syrian army. Government forces had recaptured the ash-Shaer gas field.
Click to see the full-size map
Click to see the full-size map
Military Situation In Palmyra Countryside After Recent Advances By Syrian Army
Good job SAA, clear that Homs-Hama area, I would like Southfront to do an analysis of this area, suspected number of Isis soldiers, capabilities and how many civilians in the area. Thank You.
Wouldn’t it be easier to capture busayri crossroads from the tiyas crossroads rather than going there from Palmyra? Also, wouldn’t jbab Hmd have been taken before advancing to Palmyra? These SAA is spreading their lines so thin, they couldn’t possibly be patrolling all of them.
I think because they have more numbers to ISIS in this area, they can afford to do that. The oil/gas fields are their priority in this area, according to the last interview of Assad, new contracts are already drawn up.
The SAA may see no real need to capture that crossroad since the Southern FSA controls the territory west and south of it plus may be waiting on the ISIS units holding the phosphate mines to either run out of supplies or get themselves wasted trying to retake the crossroad south of Palmyra that leads to the T3 pumping station where roads to the NE and SE connect. Syria has a third large phosphate mine near Damascus that probably produces enough for their domestic market if they don’t sell any to militant regions so can make do without those two for the time being. Syria needs to regain control of as many gas fields as possible since they rely upon that for power generation and supply Lebanon’s NG needs which brings in much needed revenue. Assad was forced to buy NG from ISIS after they captured several gas fields. That sounds horrible yet Assad probably could’ve been getting it for dirt cheap since he was their only customer and controlled the pipelines to take possession of it. ISIS had no use for their excess gas production so they could either close down wells and get nothing or agree to Assad’s offer to get something for it.
The SAA is on the right track by moving west in force to gain control of that village and start moving up the highway to the crossroad. That should prompt the remaining ISIS in the south and west to withdraw if they can still use that winding paved road for a speedy exit. It appears to run across the top of a ridge with eroded slopes so a few well placed bombs could crater the road surface to make it unusable and force ISIS to use the slower unimproved desert roads. Those too, can be made impassable by bombing bridges and culverts over deep wadis. The SAF may be doing that right now to keep the ISIS units along the front line trapped in place where they can be waited out as their food and water supplies dwindle away.