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The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has repelled a large-scale attack by ISIS militants on the village of Abu Mayalah and Sardah, northeast of the important town of Khanasser. The only government supply line to the city of Aleppo runs through Khanasser.
The ISIS-linked news agency “Amaq” announced that ISIS militants had managed to kill 30 Syrian soldiers and captured four during the attack on government positions east of the Khanasser road.
However, a source from the SAA in Khanasser said that no soldier was lost in the battle. The source said that dozens ISIS terrorists were killed and four their bodies of militants were captured. The SAA destroyed two ISIS technicals (a vehicle armed with a machine gun) and a battle tank.
As a result of clashes the SAA did not lose any position and ISIS terrorists fled the area because of large losses.
According to pro-government sources, the SAA may work on securing the eastern side of the Khanasser road.
- They could advance from the eastern Aleppo countryside towards the strategic town of Maskana
- Government forces could advance from the Al-Sa’aer gas field in the eastern Homs countryside towards the southeastern Hama countryside.
However, such an operation may only start if a new truce agreement is reached at the next Astana meeting because of the heavy pressure on the SAA in Hama.
very awesome job SAA i hope daesh enjoyed the fuck and bullet party lmao
as for which strategy to pursue, i would need a up to date map to make a best guess
Find a map that shows the road network in detail for that region. You may notice that the ISIS units in that area are trapped with their only out to safety is to the west thru SAA lines. The best strategy is to stay put and wait for their next desperate attempt to punch their way thru.
If I were them I would just surrender
Carefull on S-W Syrian/Jordanian border cause daesh ( Israël and US) want to send them in the battle for Deir-er-Sor (sorry for spelling)
If SAA can it would be good if they could advance from eastern Aleppo countryside towards the strategic town of Maskana and continue until Kurds line, which SAA would gain the airport and from Al-Sa’aer gas field the same time. After liberated those area the SAA would narrow the defence line. Therefore will have more manpower to designate to another area
I think the SAA is going to wait them out for awhile since those ISIS units are trapped and probably trying to filter out their better fighters thru the wastelands in the south past SDF positions. The ISIS commander that spied for the US and was recently extracted north of Deir Azzor was the former commander of Tabqa so probably knew the strength of ISIS units SE of Aleppo with that information being passed on to the SAA generals.
The SDF probably has observation posts out there to monitor ISIS traffic. I would imagine that the bulk of it is towards the east with some commercial trucks going north then returning east taking away supplies needed elsewhere. Once that traffic slows to a trickle or stops then the SDF will notify the SAA who may then start an advance on the airbase then south.
This is the fourth attack launched by ISIS straight at strong positions only to suffer heavy losses in men and equipment. Two were in that region to region (this one and another near al-Sa’an) where they didn’t have far to go to reach militant-held territory. One was west of Palmyra south of Mahin where the Lebanese border is fairly close with ISIS having a presence there. The fourth one was at al-Tanf near the Syrian-Jordan border where they could access a road along the border going straight east to the T2 pumping station. It’s rather obvious that ISIS units in those areas have found themselves trapped and gave it shot to punch their way thru SAA and FSA defenses to places where they can get supplies such as food and fuels.
The ones that attacked al-Tanf and near Mahin were part of the bunch holding the phosphate mining region. Their first attack was near Mahin and the al-Tanf a few weeks later, which prompted the US to have the southern FSA to move east to take control the region south of the mines to block further ISIS traffic. The SAA and FSA/US always examine any dead bodies, their kit and trucks for evidence that will provide clues to their adversaries situation in that region. They might of seen that the dead fighters were all unusually thin with no body fat, which indicates that ISIS units there are desperately short on foodstuffs and are existing on starvation rations. I believe they did which is why the SAA halted their advance to the mines to wait as ISIS eventually ran out of food and began to starve to death. Hopefully they found the ISIS dead in the same condition further north. Next item they would check is the quality of the fuels being used in their abandoned/disabled vehicles. ISIS had to import quality fuels since the garbage they produced in their tea pot refineries were full of sulfur which ruins engines fast. It’s highly corrosive to metals which causes valves to burn and cylinder/ring wear so motors burn lots of oil and fuels with greatly reduced performance before they finally crap out. The US, Russians and Syrians kept bombing those tea pot operations so ISIS began distributing the raw crude to their scattered units so they produce their own fuels in stills made from 30/55 gallon drums and coils of metal tubing to condense the vapors just like a moonshiner. They probably found better fuels in the vehicles leading the charge and the crummy stuff in those following behind. Then they would pull the heads off the motors to examine the valves and cylinder bores to get an idea of the general condition of ISIS vehicle engines in that region. Then they check the tires, rims and other components for wear and signs that ISIS is being forced to use parts stripped off different makes to keep theirs operational.
What they find helps them to determine where to advance next and where to bolster defenses. The SAA isn’t advancing towards Arak since ISIS has good access to supplies in the east. That’s a different story to the west and northwest of Palmyra were ISIS eastern supply routes wind thru long stretches of mountainous desert roads and much longer if brought down from the north. The SAA advance up to al-Sha’er was to threaten ISIS supply routes. They advanced east of the highway so the ISIS units to the west could evacuate using the road. ISIS recently announced their repositioning of fighters to the east to bolster defenses. I wouldn’t be surprised if those weren’t their best fighters and vehicles remaining in eastern Homs and Hama Provinces since they can’t keep those regions supplied and will lose control of those soon. The saps left behind have only one way out to safety which is across the highway to the north so the SAA is bolstering their defenses at the most logical routes ISIS would take, which would be along the shortest routes with good roads that have normal grades for commercial truck traffic so their wheezing jalopies can make the trip in one mad dash while laying down an exhaust smoke screen along the way.
Billy, you are the King!
Congratulations. Continue this way.