Syria - 23 August 2017 - a second pocket in Homs/Hama

 

"Pro-government forces, led by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) Tiger Forces, have liberated the Dahik Mount at the Sukhna-Resafa road and created the second ISIS pocket in the province of Homs. Now, ISIS terrorists are encircled in the two separate ISIS-held areas: in the area of Uqayrabat and in the area northeast of Palmyra."  South Front

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Unless HTS (AQ) chooses to attack to open a gap from Idlib Province (green colored on map) or the IS forces in these two large pockets manage to break out to the east, they are doomed,  Good.  Months ago, someone on SST laughed at the idea that the SAA and friends (R+6) could conduct operations on a grand scale like this.  Evidently, whoever claimed that,was wrong.   These decisive battles and maneuvers are destroying IS.  IS forces were severely damaged at Mosul and Raqqa.  The campaign for Homs/Hama will finish them off.   pl 

https://southfront.org/syrian-war-report-august-23-2017-syrian-army-liberates-large-area-from-isis/

https://southfront.org/government-forces-liberate-mount-dahik-create-second-isis-pocket-in-central-syria/

Comments

[turcopolier]

PA

'who is basically a paid (often easily recognizable) foreign mercenary-" Not true. You cannot pay men enough to die willingly the way they do. soldiers (including mercenaries) take risks but they are not suicidal. The Japanese in WW2 were willing to die for their emperor because their code of Bushido required it but they would have preferred to live, pl

[Red Cloud]

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/update-syrian-army-allies-rush-reinforcements-east-hama-amid-isis-al-qaeda-offensive/

HTS and ISIS are coordinating, again. I'm sure this won't stop some from continuing to claim they don't coordinate with one another unfortunately.

[turcopolier]

Red Cloud

It is a very unusual thing for them to coordinate between them. pl

[mike]

Colonel -

After checking Professor Hugh Kennedy's book on the Abbasids, it seems I mis-spoke. It was Abbasid caliph al Mansur that captured that part of Syria.

But Harun, Mansur's grandson is the one that set up his capital in Raqqa and also frequented the Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharki hunting palace.

[Laguerre]

I don't want to bother with the issues of Qasr al-Hayr. Both, Gharbi and Sharqi, were built in the reign of Hisham (724-743). There's no evidence of their being used as a princely residence under the Abbasids.

Never mind. What I wanted to tell you is that my Syrian visitor this afternoon, daughter of a major rebel, is quite clear that Asad has won. It's no longer an issue in the eyes of the Syrians.