ISIS continues attacks west of Palmyra
ISIS appears to be hitting Syrian forces with concentric attacks on the westernmost extent of the pocket the Syrians have held since the summer. It appears that once Aleppo started to rise in importance, the Syrians shifted their forces there and left a small contingent in Palmyra. ISIS sniffed it out and started to attack, and appear to be pressing their attacks westward.
[ARANews] Homs – Militant fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Monday launched an offensive on the Syrian T4 Military Airport.
ISIS fighters assaulted the airport with mortar shells, Grad rockets and heavy machine guns.
“The group destroyed at least three warplanes in the T4 Airport and captured some parts of the base after clashes with the Syrian Army forces,” media activist Amro al-Hussein told ARA News, citing a military source.
Located in the eastern countryside of Homs, central Syria, the T4 Airport is a main base for the Syrian regime’s Air Force. ISIS was able to storm the base after taking security checkpoints from the Syrian Army in the nearby districts of Mashtal and Qasr al-Hir.
This comes just one day after the hardline group recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra east of Homs subsequent to heavy clashes with the Syrian Army. Activists and military sources confirmed the rout, reporting that the army had been forced to withdraw under fire.
“The army withdrew after the clashes reached the city center and it became impossible for them to push ISIS back,” local media activist Abas al-Omar reported.
Syrian regime forces were obliged to evacuate their headquarters in Palmyra, heading westward toward the Doua District and Tiyas Airbase.
According to al-Omar, ISIS had “continued shelling the army’s positions inside Palmyra with mortars and heavy artillery for hours, causing large losses in the army ranks.” Dozens of soldiers were killed on Sunday and a number of others remain unaccounted for, likely taken as prisoners.
Russia had supported the Syrian Army in Palmyra, with airstrikes and logistical support but their efforts were apparently insufficient to save the city.
ISIS first took over Palmyra in May 2015, following a protracted battle with Syrian regime forces. The Islamic State’s occupation was exceptionally brutal, even by the standards of Syria’s 5-year-long conflict.
ISIS published images of their jihadists massacring civilians and destroying ancient monuments, arguing that the monuments were idolatrous and locally worshiped.
ISIL Attack on Palmyra Proves Terrorists Must Not Be Given Chance to Recuperate
[AlManar] Terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group used vehicles loaded with explosives and suicide bombers during their attack on Palmyra, and entrenched themselves at the suburbs of the city, the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.
“At dusk, ISIL terrorists used cars loaded with explosives and suicide bombers on one of the directions, broke through the defense of the city and entrenched themselves on its suburbs despite heavy losses,” Konashenkov said.
The spokesman added that the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, had repelled two powerful attacks. The militants actively used cars loaded with explosives and driven by suicide bombers, as well as tanks and rocket artillery systems.
According to Konashenkov, the recent offensive by ISIL terrorists on Palmyra that forced the government forces to abandon the city clearly proves that the terrorists must not be given even a small chance to recuperate and regroup preparing for sudden strikes.
“The pressure on terrorists to thwart their attacks and later destroy them must be applied simultaneously in all regions where they operate — in Syria, Iraq and other countries,” Konashenkov said.
The ISIL attack on Palmyra showed once again that terrorists should not have the slightest opportunity for a pause that they always use to regroup and deliver sudden strikes,” he said.
The Syrian Army evacuated the residents of Palmyra and took up defensive positions on the outskirts of the city. “Russian aviation has not conducted airstrikes on Palmyra’s residential districts. Taking advantage of it, the militants intensified their attacks. The Syrian troops evacuated the residents, left the city and took up positions on its outskirts,” the spokesman said.
He underscored that Damascus was taking all measures to liberate the city. Konahsnkov said ISIL deployed significant forces to storm Palmyra after the US-led coalition suspended active operations in Raqqa.
“Taking advantage of the fact that active military operations of the United States and the international coalition near Raqqa were suspended until spring, ISIL redeployed significant forces to storm Palmyra.”
Konashenkov added that over the past two days, over 5,000 Daesh militants had made a few attacks on the Syrian troops’ positions near Palmyra.
On Sunday, ISIL terrorists again reoccupied the ancient city after attacking it for two days. Over 5,000 militants, including hundreds of suicide bombers, as well as dozens of vehicles relocated from the Provinces of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, reportedly participated in the offensive.
The governor of the Homs Province, where Palmyra is located, said the Syrian Army had evacuated 80 percent of the city’s population. The fate of the rest was of concern. The governor expressed hope the Syrian Army and militia would soon regroup and reclaim Palmyra.
Lack of US Cooperation Led to Militants’ Recapture of Palmyra
[AlManar] Moscow said on Monday that threat of Palmyra’s loss is damage to the entire civilized world, not only to Syria and Russia, noting that lack of US cooperation led to recapture of the ancient city by Takfiri militants.
“We regret that we have yet to completely neutralize their offensive,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the militants return to the fabled city after an eight-month absence.
“We also regret that there still is a lack of coordinated action and real cooperation with other states — with the United States first and foremost — that do not want to cooperate, and this cooperation could allow us to avoid such attacks by terrorists.”
Peskov added that jihadists from neighboring Iraq, had been flooding into Syria.
“Palmyra is a Syrian city. Not Russia is losing Palmyra, but the threat of Palmyra’s loss is damage to the entire civilized world, not to Russia. It is damage to the public image of the entire civilized humanity, [those] who… are not doing anything in reality to fight these international terrorists in the person of the Islamic State,” the Russian official told reporters.
Palmyra’s residents had been evacuated from Palmyra and the Syrian army was engaged in fierce fighting on the city outskirts with ISIL terrorists who had reportedly re-entered the city.
Earlier in March, Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes and special forces on the ground recaptured the UNESCO world heritage site from ISIL terrorists.
ISIL Terrorists Suffer Heavy Losses before Syrian Army, Re-infiltrate into Palmyra
That's not what we heard, but do go on...
[AlManar] Terrorists of the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) takfiri group suffered heavy losses in personnel and ordnance on Sunday as they engaged with the Syrian army units operating in Palmyra city.
Following clashes, the ISIL gunmen managed to infiltrate to the city in east Homs.
Army units courageously defended Palmyra city and fought fierce clashes with the takfiri group that attacked the residential city from several directions with more than four thousand gunmen,” state-run SANA news agency reported.
“The takfiri organization transferred to Palmyra large numbers of terrorists and vehicles from Raqqa and Deir Ezzor,” SANA said citing local sources..
The news agency pointed out that the ISIL terrorist group suffered heavy losses of personnel and equipment during the clashes, adding that the takfiri gunmen used in their attack many cars and booby-trapped vehicles loaded with large quantities of explosives.
ISIS digs in at Palmyra
Nice stationary targets for Russian airstrikes
[AAWSAT] Beirut: Four days following its unanticipated attack, ISIS fighters have entrenched in Palmyra and took full control of the city, its airport, ancient city and its ancient castle.
Regime forces were therefore forced to retreat to the southwestern desert despite Russia’s extensive airstrikes.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS sent more than 300 members to Palmyra’s fronts and the countryside of the eastern Homs province. It also said ISIS had earlier brought 500 members from Iraq to Raqqa.
The Observatory said the fighters were sent following a meeting held between leader of Jaysh al-Sham (The Army of the Levant) and ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The two men asserted that from now on, reinforcements would be sent consecutively in light of the dire military situation of ISIS fighters at Syria’s different fronts.
Both the Observatory and Homs Media Center said ISIS was capable to quickly control the ancient city of Palmyra because it relied on the factor of “promptness” in its attack on the area, which was almost empty from regime forces who were busy fighting in Aleppo.
Sham Network reported on Sunday that regime forces brought large military reinforcements to the outskirts of Palmyra, including foreign militias who were fighting in Aleppo’s fronts.
The Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman told Ahsarq Al-Awsat that the regime does not possess the sufficient tools to fight on several fronts in Syria. “The regime was also confident that ISIS was on its way to collapse, therefore it mobilized its members to Aleppo’s fronts. Later, Syria’s forces were surprised by the attack on the city of Palmyra,” Abdel Rahman said.
Mohammad Al-Sibai, spokesperson of the Homs Media Center told Asharq Al-Awsat that regime forces prevented Homs residents from fleeing the city, particularly young men who were arrested in large numbers. Al-Sibai said he expected regime forces to send those young men back to Homs and force them to fight at the Palmyra fronts.
“Regime forces only allow the exit of residents who pay money,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia announced to have repelled an ISIS attack on Palmyra, saying it had launched 64 airstrikes overnight that killed 300 militants. But hours later, the activists said ISIS had seized a castle just outside the town that overlooks its famed Roman-era ruins.
Separately, civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo were waiting on Sunday the U.S. and Russian final decision concerning their situation.
Opposition officials with Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. and Russia tabled a proposal to rebels in Aleppo that would offer safe passage from the city for fighters, their families and other civilians.
However, Russia later denied that any deal had been reached, saying that reports of the proposal do not “necessarily correspond with reality”.
The proposal would also require fighters from the jihadist group formerly known as Nusra Front to head to the northwestern province of Idlib. But it would allow fighters from other groups to go to other destinations including areas near the Turkish border to the northeast of Aleppo, which are held by groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.
However, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russia Today that “Washington insists on unacceptable conditions concerning the ceasefire.” |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
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...embracing their inner Islamic Brute...
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