Syrian Army encircles ISIS in Al-Mayadeen – military sources
The Syrian Army and its allies have encircled Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the city of Al-Mayadeen, one of the terrorists’ last strongholds southeast of Deir ez-Zor, SANA state news agency reported on Sunday, citing a military source.
The unnamed source said that “army units established control over Maratt al-Fouqa town to the east of the Euphrates River, and encircled IS terrorists in al-Mayadeen,” in eastern Syria.
RIA Novosti also reported that the Syrian Army has encircled IS in Al-Mayadeen, 45 kilometers southeast of Deir ez-Zor.
“Assault detachments of the army are conducting clearance operation on the western outskirts of Mayadeen,” RIA reported, citing its military source on the ground.
Syrian troops took control of the market in the west of the city, a medieval Arab-Islamic fortress, Al-Rahba, near the city of Mayadeen, as well as the areas of Savami and al-Galal, a Syrian Army general told RIA Novosti on Saturday.
“Fierce clashes are taking place between the army and terrorists in the south of the city, where the [Syrian] troops have seized the farms of Al-Shabli and the al-Madfaiyah area,” the general said.
On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said two submarines from the Russian Black Sea Fleet launched cruise missiles strikes on Al-Mayadeen.
The defense ministry said in a statement that two Russian submarines, the Veliky Novgorod and the Kolpino, delivered strikes from the Mediterranean Sea by 10 Kalibr cruise missiles on IS sites in the area surrounding Al-Mayadeen.
“By means of objective control, destruction of all assigned targets has been confirmed,” Russian Ministry of Defense Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said. “IS rebel groups in the area of the settlement of Mayadeen received significant damage both in manpower and technology,” he added.
Dozens of ISIS militants, warlords, and foreign fighters among them, were killed in a series of Russian airstrikes in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. The Russian Air Force also targeted command posts, heavy weaponry, and ammunition depots.
“During the last day, [a] Russian Air Force task force in Syria [targeted] Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] reinforcements of foreign fighters coming from Iraq to the vicinity of the town of Abu Kamal near [the] Iraq-Syria border,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
As all terrorist targets, including command outposts, manpower, and armored vehicles were identified and confirmed within a week, a series of airstrikes followed, it added.
“An airstrike near Abu Kamal destroyed [the] Islamists’ outpost, killing some 40 militants from Tajikistan and Iraq, as well as 7 SUVs with DShK and ZU-23-2 machine guns mounted on them,” the statement said.
A separate strike near the city of Mayadin killed up to 80 terrorists, among them nine fighters from the northern Caucasus, and destroyed a command center, 18 SUVs, and three ammunition depots.
Earlier this week, Russian surgical strikes targeted a number of terrorist leaders in various parts of Syria.
On Tuesday, the Russian MoD said Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the Commander-in-Chief of Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Al-Nusra Front), was critically injured in an airstrike.
Al-Julani “sustained shrapnel wounds and is in a critical condition after losing his arm, according to information from multiple independent sources,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. The MoD later said Al-Julani fell into a coma due to his injuries.
Among the commanders killed in the airstrike were Tahrir al-Sham’s ‘finance emir,’ a chief of Idlib’s southern sector, an adviser to the ‘war minister,’ a Sharia judge, and an aide to a spiritual leader, the defense ministry said at the time.
The airstrike also destroyed a nearby “ammunition and explosives depot and six SUVs with large-caliber weapons,” Konashenkov said.
