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On May 18, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies kicked off a military operation against ISIS cells in Syria’s central region.
Citing a military source, the North Press Agency said that commando units from the army’s 4th Division and 17th Division will take part in the operation, along with other units from the Iranian-backed Afghan Liwa Fatemiyoun and the Palestinian al-Quds Brigade.
Fighter jets and attack helicopters from the Syrian Arab Air Force will back the operation, which will target ISIS’s remaining cells around the town of al-Sukhnah in the eastern Homs countryside for the next three days.
The operation comes following a series of attacks by ISIS cells in the eastern Homs countryside and other parts of the central region that left hundreds of people killed or wounded in the last few months.
Most of the victims were impoverished civilians hunting for expansive desert truffles in the region to secure an additional income.
According to a recent report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Right, a London-based pro-opposition monitoring group, ISIS cells have carried out seven attacks in the central region since the start of May. The terrorist attacks claimed the lives of three civilians and 20 military personnel.
The new operation will help secure vast parts of the eastern Homs countryside, including a strategic highway linking the cities of Homs and Deir Ezzor. However, more efforts are needed to end ISIS presence in other parts of the central region, especially in the eastern Hama countryside, the southern Raqqa countryside and the western Deir Ezzor countryside.
