8 February 2017 - 22:25
Clash betw. ISIS, Syrian forces leads to 20 killed, injured

In a bid to relieve the collapsing Al-Bab front, the ISIS Takfiri group ordered hundreds of its militants to attack the government-held road near Khanassir in southern Aleppo.

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - In a bid to relieve the collapsing Al-Bab front, the ISIS Takfiri group ordered hundreds of its militants to attack the government-held road near Khanassir in southern Aleppo, Almasdar News reported.

Beginning after dark on Tuesday, ISIS militants stormed the town of Um Mayyal and its surrounding checkpoints with armored vehicles and a significant number of combattants.

AMN added, at the beginning, offensive appeared somewhat successful as ISIS took control of several checkpoints south of Um Mayyal and began attacking the town itself from two directions.

Unfortunately for the advancing ISIS units, their Takfiri militants were met by stiff resistance from a batch of seasoned Republican Guard soldiers stationed at Um Mayyal that had linked up with the regular troops whom had abandoned their initial positions.

As the hours continued into the night amid fierce skirmishes, the Syrian Army finally went on the counter-attack and quickly routed ISIS from their newly captured positions, thus recovering all lost points, AMN said.

With status quo eventually upheld on the battlefield, the warring parties did sustain significant casualties with approximately 20 troops either injured or killed on both sides.

Despite ISIS briefly severing the Aleppo supply route several times in the past years, the main road itself was never really in danger as the clashes occurred roughly 10 kilometers east of it.

According to an Al-Masdar News source, the vast majority of the ISIS’s attacks occur during the night in order to reduce the impact of Russian airpower.