Early on April 3, ISIS cells launched a “hit and run” attack on positions of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that ten fighters of the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, one of the Iraqi groups supporting the Damascus government, were killed or injured in the attack.
“During the attack, the organization [ISIS] used RPGs as well as heavy machine guns … violent clashes between the two sides lasted for hours,” the monitoring group’s report reads.
Local sources revealed that the attack targeted military positions around the Ayn Ali well, which is located south of the city of al-Mayadeen.
The attack was likely launched from the Homs desert, which lays between western Deir Ezzor and eastern Homs. From there, ISIS remnants launched dozens of attacks over the last few years. Some of these attacks were documented in a recent video release by the terrorist group, titled Epic Of Alteration 2.
ISIS threat in central Syria is clearly rising. The SAA and its allies, which are occupied by the threat of Greater Idlib, are yet to take decisive action in the Homs desert.