AhlulBayt News Agency - On Saturday, a fierce battle took place at the ‘al-Assad hospital’ after ISIS fighters managed to infiltrate government positions in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor city.
Although the so-called Islamic State did temporarily capture most of the hospital, their fighters were defeated within hours as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was quick to respond.
The below picture (new) shows Major General Issam Zahreddine standing on the roof of Sadcop fuel station which overlooks al-Assad hospital at the M7 highway, thereby proving a decisive victory by government troops.
However, for ISIS to reach al-Assad hospital in the first place, their commanders have either bribed government soldiers at a nearby checkpoint or put in place spies to the ranks of the National Defence Forces (NDF) of Deir Ezzor.
This transpires as a military source said a unit of up to 50 ISIS fighters was able to infiltrate the al-Assad hospital seemingly out of nowhere.
After the hospital battle, the SAA’s commander-in-chief Issam Zahreddine gathered the corpses of fallen ISIS fighters from all frontlines across Deir Ezzor to boost the SAA’s moral.
Close to 100 ISIS fighters have been killed over the past 48 hours, some of whom can be seen here. On the other hand, some 25 government soldiers have been killed by ISIS after two days of intense clashes in Deir Ezzor.
Furthermore, two ISIS fighters were taken prisoner – one of whom can be seen here.
Although the ISIS advances inside the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor have now been reversed, the so-called Islamic State did gain some ground towards the Thayyem Oil Field and Thurdah mountain, two sites located south of the city.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is still rather critical as 100.000 civilians live in besieged government-held district of Deir Ezzor, only receiving supplies by air drops.
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