Sweida Residents Fight Back Against ISIS: Terrorist Group Suffers Heavy Losses

The predominately Druze population of the Al-Sweida Governorate have not only resisted repeated attacks by the Syrian Al-Qaeda group “Jabhat Al-Nusra”, but also, the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), who have assaulted the desolate land in the northern countryside of this province.

Recently, the residents of Al-Sweida have found themselves under attack by a number of ISIS contingents near the town of Al-Qasr, where the aforementioned terrorist group has harassed the local population with random abductions and executions, while also plundering their provisions and resources for their own gain.

However, the tide turned in late June of this year, when the Syrian Government began to supply the residents of Al-Sweida with the necessary weapons they needed to combat this looming threat; it grew into a mutually beneficial situation, as the Syrian Druze formed a large and powerful contingent in the National Defense Forces (NDF).

The civilians in Al-Sweida alleviated the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) exhaustion by taking up arms to protect their holy land in Jabal Al-‘Arab; this display of loyalty to the Syrian Arab Army infuriated many of the Jihadist groups that attempted to strain the ties between the Sweida Druze and the Syrian Government.

On Friday morning, the National Defense Forces surprised the ISIS terrorists with a powerful assault on Al-Mu’az Hill in northern Al-Sweida, killing 26 enemy combatants from the terrorist group, while also destroying 3 armored vehicles that were mounted with 23mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

According to a military source in the province, the National Defense Forces are attempting to cutoff ISIS’ main supply route to the province, while recapturing the hilltops in northern Al-Sweida that the terrorist group controls.

In other news, sources in the Al-Sweida Governorate informed SANA about the kidnapping of the Head of Secretary of for the Al-Baath Arab Socialist Party branch in Al-Sweida, Shibli Jannoud.

The sources added that investigations proved that Jannoud was kidnapped by terrorists and taken to an unknown area.