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ISIS terrorist group is continuing attempts to develop the advance west of Palmyra. The government-held Tyas Airbase is now a key problem for terrorists.
ISIS units have already attacked the government-controlled air base two times:
- On December 12, ISIS attacked the airbase from the western, northwestern and southwestern directions after a successful operations against government forces along the Homs-Palmyra highway. Nonetheless, army troops repelled the attack.
- On December 13, ISIS units made a similar attempt to storm the airbase. Also, without any success.
This pushed the terrorist group to search another way to seize this key military facility. ISIS forward detachments flanked the Tyas Airbase from the south and attacked the Tyas crossroads. The aim of this manoeuvre is to set a foothold for encriclement of government forces in the airbase.
This will also allow to cut off army troops deployed in al-Qaryatayn from their allies at the Homs-Palmyra highway. Meanwhile, ISIS reconnaissance units were reported near al-Qaryatayn.
Pro-ISIS sources claim that the group has already seized the Tyas crossroads, but this cannot be confirmed by the evidence from the ground now. More neutral sources report that clashes are ongoing there.
In turn, the Syrian military is deploying reinforcements and the Russian Aerospace Forces are delivering a high number of airstrikes in the area.
Another important thing that ISIS offensive attempts in the area of Deir Ezzor (launched on December 12) have failed by now.
Photos & videos from the area of the aribase:
It’s worrying how much ground the army lost west of Palmyra :l
When you’re caught napping with your pants down that tends to happen. I fully expect the Tyas airbase to fall next.
I’d vote for crossroads to fall next, the Airbase is too well-fortified and has enough manpower and equipement to fend-off attacks atleast for a few more days
Well, well, I was right!
The more ISIL is bogged down by a stiff defense, the more vulnerable its forces and reserves are to airstrikes. If more resistance had been offered in Palmyra and more fortification had been done, it may have produced enough time for reinforcements and airstrikes to arrive on a massive scale. Such as it is, this is only being done at the airbase rather than Palmyra itself.