On April 4, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) secured several areas between the towns of Sabikhan and al-Salihiyah in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside from ISIS cells, according to the pro-government blog al-Masdar News.
The media department of the SAA said that loads of weapons and ammunition including ATGMs, air-to-air missiles and IEDs were found by the SAA during a search and demining operation around the town of Sabikhan.
On April 3, the SAA and the NDF launched a security operation to eliminate the remaining ISIS cells in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside. So far, the SAA has secured more than 600 square kilometers, according to Syrian pro-government sources.
From its side, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported that ISIS fighters had targeted five positions of the SAA around al-Ghbrah in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside with SPG-9 recoilless rifles .
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Once the southern Deir Ezzor countryside is secured, the SAA and its allies will likely boost their troops there to launch a military operation to fully eliminate the ISIS-held pocket, which stretches between the eastern Homs countryside and the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. Syrian pro-government activists believe that the Russian Aerospace Forces will play a key role in this upcoming operation.
Both the SAA and Russia have been using air support in this area for more than a month now, attacking these guys relentlessly, and not even one of their jets was targeted by this “so called” pocket of Isis fighters. They must be saving the AA missiles for something special. For whatever reason, Russia fails to inform the media of something they’re aware of but most of us aren’t, and I can’t figure out why. The Russians know these guys aren’t Isis fighters and realize they’re about to be used by the US to provide an excuse for a US invasion, but aren’t saying it outright, unless you read between the lines that is. They are however stepping up operations against them now, instead of just trying to isolate them from the US base at Al-Tanf, which was supplying and protecting them. These “so called” Isis fighters, now rely on the small pocket of REAL Isis fighters that remain on the other side of the Euphrates near the Iraqi border for their supplies. The real Isis fighters have been allowed to remain in this US backed SDF controlled area for this express purpose and the Russians are now doing something about that too, which is going to be hard as they can’t get to them where they’re situated. I keep predicting this will be the first instance in history where small tactical nukes will be used in a war, and I think the US base at Al-Tanf has the biggest target on it. No more Saudi pipeline in Syria if that area is nuked, at least not for another 3 or 4 hundred years.
Syria needs to buy more Iranian drones and station them initially at T3 near Palmyra. The knock-offs of the RQ 170 are stealth in design and could keep the desert rats hiding by their waterholes. Much less expensive than jet fighters, and if shot down, not loss of life. The drone operation could then be expanded to Dier Ezzor and possibly T2. After west of the river is cleared, surveillance east of the river to assess US and ISIS positions, if they are, or are not, one and the same.