Syrian Army Rebuffs ISIL Attack, Kills 19 Militants in Counter-Attack in Deir Ezzur

The sources said that after eight days of massive attacks, the ISIL failed to capture Deir Ezzur airbase that is under the control of the Syrian Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade of the 17th Reserve Division and the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard.

Initially, the terrorist group was successful in capturing the Artillery Battalion Base located at the Southwestern flank of the Deir Ezzur airbase; however, the ISIL was unable to bypass the Syrian Armed Forces’ frontline defenses at the Southern perimeter after the arrival of Major General Issam Zahreddine and his soldiers from Syrian Army’s elite 104th Airborne Brigade.

Following their repeated attempts to break-through the Syrian Armed Forces’ defenses at the Deir Ezzur airport, the ISIL central command was forced to withdraw many of their militants from this front after the Shaytat Tribesmen launched an offensive to capture the Hikmat Hospital inside the town of Al-Asharat in East of Deir Ezzur.

The final straw for the ISiL came when the Syrian army’s 137th Brigade countered the ISIL fighters at the Bardeh Mountains (West of Deir Ezzur City), killing 19 enemy combatants and destroying four armored vehicles that were mounted with 23mm anti-aircraft machine guns before they were able to push-out the remaining terrorists to the hilltop at Tal Kroum.

With their backs against the wall at Tal Kroum, the terrorist group found themselves surrounded at three different flanks; this resulted in a short assault by the Syrian Armed Forces, as all of the ISIL militants withdrew from this strategic hilltop towards the Eastern countryside of Deir Ezzur City.