BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:20 P.M.) – Elite detachments of the Syrian Arab Army continue to roll up the western shore of the Euphrates River, reclaiming from the Islamic State what was once the heartland of its empire in Syria.
According to military sources, the Syrian Army’s elite Tiger Forces have once again liberated the town of Mahkan today after it retaken by ISIS more than a fortnight ago.
Furthermore, the Russian Ministry of Defence reports that Al-Qurayya (a large town south of Mahkan) has also been liberated by Syrian forces, although some reports claim that firefights continue between the army and ISIS terrorists in one neighborhood of the town.
Further south yet again, government troops have reached the outskirts of Al-Asharah, having gained fire control over the town in previous days by taking a series of hilltops to its west. At the present time, assault units are being moved into position to storm Al-Asharah with army artillery pounding ISIS positions in and around it.
One thing that has become apparent over the last week is that ISIS terrorists are abandoning their positions along the western Euphrates shore and crossing the river to surrender to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
The Coalition-led alliance force has been conducting its own offensive in the middle Euphrates valley region (codenamed Al-Jazeera Storm) over the last two months, a big part of which has involved avoiding actual combat by enticing pro-ISIS tribesmen that have been entrusted by the terrorist group to defend key oilfields and towns to surrender (how exactly remains unknown but it is suspected that monetary rewards are part of such deals).
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