It did not take long for the Syrian Armed Forces to reverse the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS) gains near the provincial capital of the Al-Hasakah Governorate; however, not many observers figured that the terrorist organization’s frontlines would fall apart so rapidly, resulting in the Syrian Armed Forces recapturing a number of strategic points within the city’s outskirts.
Following the capture of the Al-Ahdath Juvenile Detention Facility and the Al-Hasakah Power Plant, the Syrian Arab Army’s 123rd and 154th Brigades – alongside the National Defense Forces (NDF), Al-Ba’ath Battalions, and the Gozarto Protection Forces (GPF) – launched an assault on the villages of Rad Shaqra, Al-Dawoudiyah, Al-Salihiyah, Al-Abyad, Al-Watwatiyah, and Al-Taninir.
Initially, the militants from ISIS were able to stop the Syrian Armed Forces’ onslaught at the aforementioned villages; but, after non-stop airstrikes from the Syrian Arab Air Force, the terrorist organization began to feel the effects of their fractured frontline positions, as the Syrian Armed Forces were able to recapture Al-Watwatiyah and Al-Abyad.
In addition to their capture of Al-Watwatiyah and Al-Abyad, the Syrian Armed Forces also asserted full-control over Al-Abyad-Al-Hasakah Road after a series of firefights with the militants of ISIS on Friday; this also paved the way for the Syrian Armed Forces to reenter Al-Dawoudiyah, Rad Shaqra, Al-Taninir, and Al-Salihiyah, where they were able to establish partial control over each of these villages.
According to a military source from the Syrian Arab Army’s 123rd Brigad, the Syrian Armed Forces are in full control of the provincial capital, along with a 15 square kilometer buffer-zone they were able to establish around the outskirts of Al-Hasakah City.
The source further added that ISIS is on the offensive at the ‘Abdel-‘Aziz Mountains and Al-Maylabiyah; however, ISIS has not been able to reenter the ‘Abdel-‘Aziz region, despite numerous infiltration attempts since they were forced to withdraw from this area.
