On Wednesday morning, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) is facing one of its most serious threats in recent months, as the Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade of the 17th Reserve Division – in coordination with the 104th Brigade of the Republican Guard, the National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Shaytat Tribesmen – launch a surprise attack at the village of Al-Khareetah in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

The Syrian Armed Forces attacked Al-Khareetah after a successful campaign to secure the Al-Bardeh Mountains located directly west of the Deir Ezzor Governorate’s provincial capital, along with the recent capture of the strategic hilltop at Tal Kroum to the south of the Al-Haweeqah District.

According to a field reports from a member of the Republican Guard, the Syrian Armed Forces and Shaytat Tribesmen killed an estimated 60 enemy combatants from the terrorist group, while they pushed towards ISIS’ primary supply route from the Al-Raqqa and Deir Ezzor Governorates of east Syria.

Among the identified ISIS fighters killed by the Syrian Armed Forces yesterday were Khalid Al-‘Ayyash, As’ad Mohammad Al-‘Ayyash, Yazan Mohammad Al-‘Ayyash, Yazan Al-Shouk, and ‘Ezz al-Deen Al-Mohaymid – the source added that a large number of terrorists were transported to a field hospital near Al-Shadadi in Al-Hasakah.

Al-Khareetah sits less than 20km west of the small highway that leads to the east Homs countryside and less than 1 km east of the imperative Raqqa-Deir Ezzor Highway; if both highways are cutoff, the terrorist group would be completely cutoff from their primary supply routes to Deir Ezzor.