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On Thursday, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies captured Kukab Swaid and Abu Dali villages in the eastern Hama countryside pocket, according to the Hezbollah media wing in Syria. Furthermore, the SAA captured Rasm Hamidah and al-Habrah al-Garbiah villages in the same area.
The ISIS-linked news agency Amaq announced that ISIS fighters launched a counter attack on SAA positions north of Uqayribat town in the eastern Hama countryside.
Amaq claimed that 8 SAA soldiers were killed in the attack and ISIS recaptured Massud village north of Uqayribat. Amaq also claimed that ISIS fighters destroyed a tank of the SAA and damaged another one after targeting them with ATGMs northeast of Uqayribat town. However, pro-government sources denied that ISIS recaptured any positions in the eastern Hama countryside.
The northern part of the eastern Hama pocket is expected to fall into the SAA hands in the coming days. Many pro-government sources reported that the remaining ISIS units in the pocket suffered from massive loses in the last few days.
I have reliable Source in that area and confirmed that ISIS did have some success and entered into Massud village north of Uqayribat. SAA lost some soldiers and equip. As at 1330 East Central US time (around 43 minutes ago), the fighting is again going on the outskirts of the town. SAA is again having upper hand and ISIS lost about 6 fighters and number of equip. Despite the fact that some pockets were created, ISIS is still putting up fierce resistance enough to ensure that complete clearing of the pockets won’t happen as fast as we would like.