The Islamic State off Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) launched a decisive offensive at the provincial capital of the Deir Ezzor Governorate, where they attempted to capture the strategic Military Airport and a number of residential quarters that are currently under the control of the Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Brigade of the 17th Division.
When the offensive began, Brigadier General Issam Zahreddine and his soldiers from the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard had departed the province and made their way to Syria’s capital, where they were going to be concentrated until the rural area known as the “East Ghouta” in the Rif Dimashq Governorate was captured.
Upon receiving orders of their transfer back to the Deir Ezzor Governorate, the 104th Brigade was to report to General Mohammad Khaddour of the SAA’s Central Command and begin preparations for a counter-assault on the enemy combatants from ISIS that were storming the Syrian Armed Forces in the province.
Brigadier General Issam Zahreddine and his men from the 104th Brigade returned to the province of Deir Ezzor on Thursday morning and immediately prepared for the imminent ISIS assault on the Deir Ezzor Military Airport; this ISIS attack on the airport would not come until dusk on Thursday, as they tried to break-through the SAA’s frontline defenses at the eastern perimeter of the base.
With the SAA in firm position to repel the assault on the Deir Ezzor Military Airport, the 104th Brigade concentrated a number of their soldiers to the Sakr Island front, where ISIS combatants had tried to capture over the last six days.
Firefights are still ongoing at between the Syrian Armed Forces and ISIS at Sakr Island; however, the former has been able to retake some of their lost territory over the course of 48 hours and they reentered the Al-‘Aleesh District in the northern part of the Island.
In addition to the fierce clashes at Sakr Island and Deir Ezzor Military Airport, a military source from the 104th Brigade has reported a number of firefights at the Al-Jubeileh, Al-Rashidiyah, Al-‘Arfa, Sheikh Yasseen, Al-Kanamat, and Al-Sina’a Quarters, along with violent fighting at the villages of ‘Ayyash, Al-Muri’iyah, Al-Jafra, and Al-Shoula.
