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The Syrian Armed Forces continued its operations in the eastern countryside of Aleppo capturing Um Adsa, Al-Khalilah, Jafr Mansour, Tell Akoulah and al-Qasr surrounding the ISIS stronghold of Deir Hafer from three directions cutting off its main supply route from Raqqa.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is expected to capture of Deir Hafer in the coming few days. Some sources report that ISIS has already begun withdrawal from the city. The terror group is apparently unable to counter the SAA ground forces backed by Russian airstrikes. Su-25 warplanes have provided close support on an hourly basis in addition to the accurate strikes carried out by the Su-34 bombers on the jihadist group’s back lines.
Noticeably, the Syrian Army decided to besiege the city instead of storming it. The tactic is different from a “head-on fight” chosen by the Command of Euphrates Shield operation in capturing of Al-Bab.
In East Aleppo, SAA falls back mainly on Tiger forces along with pro-government local fighting groups from the towns that has been already freed. This method allows SAA to shift troops faster to other fighting areas like Hama today.
ISIS manpower shortage has started to effect heavily on the battlefield. ISIS has to leave only 400 fighters to defend the whole area from Deir Hafer to Maskanah. Although terror units are well trained and good motivated they are poorly equipped solely relying on VBIEDs to break SAA offensive.
Some pro-government media sources claim that the East Aleppo operation will continue until the seizure of Maskanah. The operation is to lead to effective clearing of the entire eastern countryside of Aleppo and paving the way for further operations in the western countryside of Aleppo against Ahrar al-Sham and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Hayyan, Hreitan, Anadan, Rashideen, and Khan Al-Assal.
The SAA upcoming offensive in the western countryside of Aleppo will be more difficult because Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar Al-Sham are far better equipped than ISIS as they receive weapons and ammo, including TOW missiles, from US-backed Free syrian Army groups. However, the SAA has already got advantage as it controls Nubul and Zahra’a in the north and Al-Assad in the south.
A lot of Tiger Forces have left East Aleppo . I hope the useless NDF and Liwa Baqir manage to continue the offensive .
tell the SAA they need to be FIERCE FEROCIOUS DEADLY SHOW NO MERCY!!!! :D
Expect surprised in the next days
I was already surprised twice today! (One good, one bad) The next surprise may be W Aleppo I hope. Maybe HTS is trying to forestall this with their N Hama attack?
Palmyra frontline should actually intensify by Tigers SAA,to reach Deir Ezzor at least they reach As Shuknah to cut waypoint.
Hope so!
With you there.
The so-called Islamic state is nothing but a sideshow and will always be a sideshow. Let them wallow in their Raqqa and pretend fight with their American benefactors.
The Syrian government need to wipe out the moderate terrorists asap. I am so tired of reading about all the politicking with these treacherous “moderates”, only to read about their backstabbing later. After 6 years you’d think Damascus would be terrorist-free by now.
Agreed . SAA should have attacked directly after Aleppo . They had the momentum and the rebels were in disarray .
I have a different view. ISIS presence gives USA and their allies a ”rightfull” course in order to intervene in Syria. If SAA leaves ISIS alone for a while (aiming on west Aleppo or other moderate rebels), we will see other fill the gap For instance, think of Al-Bab. If SAA havent moved towards Al-bab, the Turks would be able to invade further south.
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what good would that do?
They try to create a protectorate in N. Syria.
You can’t squeeze a quart out of a pint pot. The Syrian counter-offensive with Russian air power has broken the power of the US head-chopping, heart-eating rapers. The Syrians need to think ahead and use methods that conserve casualties, because they need to win the peace as well as the war. If they win but break the Syrian army in the process, the US will keep up its aggression using other proxies, like Turkey and the zionist occupation.
yes they need to be absolutely brutal to them, show no mercy or hesitation whatsoever
What is the point of “capturing it ? – then the Syrians need to defend it and diversify and grow weaker again. I am sorry, but in my view whatever the collateral damage (as it is called), I believe they should flatten it.
I know it even makes me sick in saying that, but this is a war for some sort of future in Syria; no prisoners.
The fuck are you talking about? The population aren’t islamists, the government has to liberate them and protect them. They are their compatriots.
ISIS fighters and collaborators will die.
I would have thought that most of the population would have been long gone by now.
No need for drastic measures. You are assuming that many Daesh are still in the city, they usually pull out most before encirclement. SAA can defend this area along a minor canal line just to the south. Besides, SY/RU air strikes are needed elsewhere (N Hama).
i wonder where all the daesh went? (that were in deir hafer) i feel like SAA will have to tangle with them later on somewhere else :/
The daeshbags got a big surprise today! SDF and Kurds established a bridgehead across the lake much further south. Cutting the main road and threatening Tabka dam. This will make SSA job in the area much easier.
AWESOMESAUCE!!!
jirah airbase?
Hey man what do u think of this strategy? Could u suggest it to Syrian army command? After they take deir hafer and jirah, they split up, one force goes to finish off the rebels around hama/Damascus/Homs and ultimately idlib, the other goes to take care of deir ezzor from Palmyra and Afrin (with the Russians there), and once they’ve put those two problems to bed, they create the ultimate pincer maneuver on raqqa. Thanks!!!
Now encircle it – there will be unfortunate civilian damage, but just eradicate it.
Negotiated settlements are best use of military power.
Syria should focused on dealing with terrorist on West Alleppo, Idlib, Hama, around Damascus, clear all terrorist pocket, from north to south to Daraa-Suweida before deal with IS. But it understood they racing on time with Turk invaders from North and American backed SDF.
i know, it is by far the most important and most difficult military battle going on right now on the planet and the whole world is watching
deir hafer then jirah then maskanah and then …. NOT raqqa, NOT hama, NOT latakia, NOT west aleppo, NOT sukhnah or DEZ. Friggin ithriya / khanasser / north of palmyra pocket. Let’s do things step by step. I think the government will take care of the urgent hama situation in a week or two. Raqqa can be left for the kurds for now, it will only make things more complicated. DEZ can wait a bit more, they are the best of the best there. But that salient needs to be cleared of ISIS before you push further East.
I think once SAA has taken care of deir hafer and jirah airbase, they should finish off the rebels/militants around Damascus/hama/Homs once and for all, ultimately resulting in the liberation of idlib. Maybe they can split up their forces, send some to do that, and the rest to push towards deir ezzor from afrin and Palmyra. Once they’ve put those problems to bed, they can focus on pushing into raqqa