Two weeks after being redeployed to Damascus, Brigadier General Issam Zahreddine and his soldiers from the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard have received orders to return to the Deir Ezzor Governorate and quell the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS) recent offensive in the province.
The 104th Brigade is considered the SAA’s most elite Republican Guard force; their role in this conflict has been limited to the Deir Ezzor Governorate due to the large ISIS presence that is concentrated in eastern Syria (Al-Hasakah, Deir Ezzor, east Homs, and Ar-Raqqa Governorates) and western Iraq (Al-‘Anbar and Nineveh Governorates).
According to a military source from the 104th Brigade, the Republican Guard’s objective will be to push the ISIS militants away from the villages of Al-Jafra and Al-Muri’iyah, reclaim the imperative territory at Haweeja Al-Sakr and ‘Ayyash, and to capture the town of Al-Shoula in order to reopen the Palmyra-Deir Ezzor Road leading to the province.
Similar to Colonel Suheil Al-Hassan of the Tiger Forces, Brigadier General Issam Zahreddine is not only a valuable field commander, but also, his presence is a morale boost for the entrenched soldiers from the 137th Brigade of the 17th Division fighting at the multiple fronts in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.
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