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ISIS Hunters repel ISIS assault along Homs-Palmyra highway
[ALMASDARNEWS] The ISIS Hunter units of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) repelled a surprise attack conducted by fighters of the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
(ISIS) along the Homs Palmyra highway. The fierce attack targeted positions of the ISIS Hunters at height 681 but was toppled by the swift reaction of the SAA’s forces, holding their ground.

According to the ISIS Hunter’s media channel, the aussault started in the early hours of Tuesday with mortar shelling, that was followed by an attempt of the jihadist fighters equipped with heavy machine guns and RPGs to storm the position.

Combing the battle site later at dawn the successfull defenders found multiple corpses of ISIS Death Eaters and could even capture one of the attackers alive, who was maimed in his stomach. Provided with medical assistance the jihadist was willing to give informations about the purpose of the ISIS attack.

He told his captors, that it was part of a reconaissance mission, supposed to gather intel for a planned offensive, destined to recapture Tiyas airbase and further advance to the gas fields at al-Faraqlas. Effictively this operation would, if ISIS was to succeed, once again throw back the SAA’s efforts to secure the area around Palmyra and advance to Deir Ezzor, because it would cut the highway connecting Homs with Palmyra.

Control of this highway is important for the supply of troops at the frontlines, but recently the SAA succeeded in reopening the route from Damascus to Palmyra. With this additional supply line an ISIS advance to Tiyas, would not necessarily bring the SAA offensive in the region to a halt.
Posted by: Fred 2017-06-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=489489