Led by elite Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army has broken through the Islamic State’s main line of defense in the southeastern countryside of the Raqqa Governorate, Al-Masdar News reported.
However, despite their recent success, the town of Ma’adan, considered the Islamic State’s main stronghold along the provincial border, still needs to be liberated.
“Once Ma’adan is captured, the Islamic State’s entire front-line in southeastern Al-Raqqa is expected to collapse, leaving the entire region to the Syrian Arab Army,” according to AMN.
In 2012, the Syrian army lost half of Deir Ezzor city and, quickly thereafter, the whole province to foreign insurgents. Whereas the government-held part of Deir Ezzor is connected by a road to Homs via the ancient Palmyra, in May 2015 the Islamic State seized the site, isolating Syrian army soldiers amid a vast territory controlled by the jihadists.
One of Syria’s best generals, Issam Zahreddine, who relies on battalions of the Republican Guard, the elite troops of the Syrian army, is allegedly heading the thrust.
The National Defense Army, one of the Syrian paramilitary units, has mobilized all males older than fifteen in this effort. “Also assisting the Syrian army are six hundred fighters of the al-Shaitat tribe, who are seeking to avenge the massacre perpetrated by IS against their villages,” Fabrice Balanche, an analyst, said.
SANA reported that in the province of Raqqa, “new advances were made against the terrorists after bombing their positions and supply routes in the town of Ma’adan and the village of Bir Al Sabkhawai, located in the southeastern countryside of Raqqa province”.
Dozens of ISIS terrorists were killed and several of their vehicles and heavy machine-guns, were destroyed, the Syrian agency reported.
“The army also managed to open four humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians from Raqqa province.”
According to SANA, several notable ISIS terrorists have already fled the region, among them Abu Bis Al Khabouri, the so-called “Emir of Electricity” in Al Kher District, Ahmad Al Ali, the senior water officer in the village of Al Baseera, as well as Hussein Al Mohammad and Karim Al Mohammad, the two security officials.
The Syrian army and its allies are steadily advancing in the Badia (Syrian desert), seizing water points, communication routes, gas and oil fields, and phosphate mines. “Syria needs its resources to rebuild its infrastructure and ensure economic security,” Balanche noted.
