Late on March 17, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) repelled a large-scale attack by ISIS cells in the country’s central region.
According to the al-Watan newspaper, the attack targeted the outskirt of the town of al-Sukhnah and the T3 station in the eastern Homs countryside as well as the strategic M20 highway, which links Homs with the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor.
SAA units targeted the attackers with heavy machine guns and artillery fire, forcing them to retreat within a few hours. Al-Watan claimed that the terrorists sustained heavy losses in the failed attack.
Click to see full-size map. Source: (@Suriyakmaps) on Twitter.
Meanwhile, opposition sources told Germany’s DPA news agency that 20 Syrian soldiers were killed in the attack. The sources claimed that many others service members were captured by ISIS terrorists.
These claims may be false. Pro-government sources have not reported any losses in the SAA’s ranks in central Syria, so far.
ISIS cells in central Syrian, mainly in the Homs desert, stepped up their attacks in the last few months. The terrorists made several attempts to block the Homs-Deir Ezzor highway, all were foiled by the SAA.
Odd how they don’t attack US forces in the area, how they are enemies and all. I also wonder if they want to capture soldiers alive just so they can do something depraved to them on TV. It’s all so sick. The only thing the US changes is location, not it’s evil intent. There must be a better way to get what you want.
They get supplies from their supporters and sleeper cells that are located nearby in the towns and villages along the highways and Euphrates River. They may get some assistance from Assad since he used that pocket to dispose of ISIS fighters and their families that were bussed out of Damacus.
There are dozens of large arms caches hidden in the sand, the GPS coordinates only known to Langley (maybe Tel Aviv too), as a plan B. These coordinates can be given to any group, who can roam around unarmed as “civilians for a long time. Just my take…
Αssad needs to send some drones in that desert and bomb those fkn turkisis rats. Bomb them every day till the last one of them has turned into vulture snacks.
Does anyone know what ISIS is doing in Rashwani and Sarayim? This gray rat pocket has always made me curious. I hope they’re not doing the same mass genocide there as in 2015.
They’re doing nothing but existing under miserable conditions.
Most of the daesh scum is finished in the near east
This 2000 ~ 3000 sq kilometer pocket has been left undone since December 2017 and US, Israel and its backed terrorists stationed at Al-Tanf have taken every possible advantage of the situation to wreak havoc on Syrian, Russian, Iranian and Hezbollah forces there for over two years. Personally, I say the remaining territories under Turkish control can wait, this ISIL-held pocket and the entire US occupied pocket of Eastern Syria bordering Iraq and Jordan must be ERADICATED ASAP!!! The occupied areas cover almost 7000 ~ 8000 sq kilometers. If Syria and its allies get dead SERIOUS and mean BUSSINESS and fight with the intensity and ferocity like they had in 2016 and 2017, I’m sure it would require just ten days to within two weeks to get the job done.
Your hero Assad used that pocket to dispose of ISIS fighters and their families that were bussed out of the Damascus region.
Very few. The major convoy to that region was bombed by the United States in 2017 and couldn’t reach the Euphrates. Some were moved along to Idlib but some remained in the Eastern Desert. And Bashar al-Assad doesn’t have to be our hero for many of us to recognize him as his country’s legitimate President, and recognize him as someone who defended his country and refused to give in to weaponized jihadi street gangs. If a similiar rebellion broke out in the U.S. among it’s Mexican population, and if foreign Ms-13 fighters were involved in making El Paso a no go government area the U.S. government would be merciless in it’s overwhelming response. Some NeoLiberal excuse makers like to pretend that the Syrian state response to the open murder of police officers on the street, and the importation of foreign fighters into the country is somehow a unique thing or something that their own government wouldn’t do. Please do spare us the unicorns.
Nah, these are guerilla type operations that can be re-instituted and re-configured very easily. No point in going all in for the Badia when there is some real hard fighting to be done in Idlib. SAA has got its priorities right.
T3 as a drone base could monitor by remote observation, the entire area from any linked location. No need to go full out,, but knowing where and when uninvited guests are in motion can save lives of SAA troops and civilians. While I thought this should have been done after Dier Azzor was liberated, there is no time like the present. The use of drones should not be Turkeys exclusive domain.
that was an epic time, i miss it, i wish to relive it again
Takn out deash in eastern homs should be top priority, they still block important part of elec grid and oil/gas lines and keep connection open with al tanf still questionin why this not been done past years.
That’s the answer. The only reason for anyone to be there is Oil. So that makes the US, Turkey and Israel all likely culprits for supporting any terrorism
Low-priority, left-over rat’s nest. It’s increasingly useless if the U.S. is moving off the Syrian-Iraqi border (al Qaim withdrawal). The few gun trucks running the rat line from at Tanf are insignificant. This is too big of an area for Syrian troops to clear and hold – it’s just a waste of men and equipment for now. The SAA was wise to bypass it and move west to Idlib. They can always come back after Idlib is liberated and sweep this area, but it’s probably better left to the SAA and PMUs in the Euphrates valley.
part of the Plan B I reckon. My hunch is that the desert has dozens of large arms caches hidden in the sand, the GPS coordinates only known to Langley. These coordinates can be given to any group that is sufficiently cooperative with the “anti-regime” forces. In this way the fight can be prolonged well beyond the terminal phases of the failed invasion. It is also why arms supply runs are not yet needed.
I predict this grey area will cease to be a problem when the green area around At Tanf disappears.
How is that ISIS spot still there, is it like Pacific Rim – do the foreigners and Toyota jump through a portal from Saudi Arabia?
Very nice SAA!!!!
ISIS schmisis. SAS more likely, or US Special Ops or Mista’arvim