On Monday morning, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) resumed their large-scale assault on the east Homs triangle (Wadi Al-Zakarah, Al-Muthlath, and Wadi Al-Abyad), targeting the Syrian Armed Forces’ defensive positions around this vast desert area that encompasses the latter’s imperative Tiyas Military Airbase and Teefor Pumping Station.
The terrorist group began their assault on the Syrian Arab Army’s positions at Wadi Al-Abyad and Wadi Al-Zakarah, where they attempted to break-through the latter’s defenses after a series of intense firefights that stretched late into Monday afternoon.
Finally, after nearly seven hours of non-stop firefights with ISIS, the Syrian Armed Forces were able to repel the terrorist’s groups multiple infiltration attempts into Wadi Al-Abyad, Wadi Al-Zakarah, and the Qasr Al-Hayr Al-Gharbiyah area in the eastern Homs countryside.
According to a military source, 3 armored vehicles that were mounted with 23 mm anti-aircraft machine guns were destroyed, along 21 ISIS fighters who were reportedly killed during these firefights; this included Bassem ‘Umar Khaldoun, Nouress Walid Thayyem, ‘Ali Ghassan Al-Bustani, Mohammad Ziad Yousif, Rayyan Mahmad ‘Abdel-Nour, and Mohammad ‘Abdullah Al-‘Alamat.
To the east of the Wadi Al-Abyad area, the Syrian Arab Army’s 67th Brigade of the 18th Tank Division – in coordination with the National Defense Forces (NDF) – continued their assault on ISIS’ positions at the small village of Al-Dalat, destroying two armored vehicles and killing 13 enemy combatants.
The Syrian Armed Forces are currently pushing for the village of Al-Dalat in order to reposition themselves within 2 km of the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur).
North of Palmyra, the Syrian Armed Forces carried out a powerful assault on ISIS’ positions to the east of the Ancient Palmyra Quarries, capturing over one and a half square kilometers of territory from the terrorist group.
