Following a week of inactivity, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) launched a large-scale assault on the National Defense Forces’ (NDF) frontline positions at Maskar Al-Hesan, Jubb Al-Jarrah and Al-Massa’oudiyeh in the northeastern countryside of the Homs Governorate, attacking all three towns from their southeastern flanks before the terrorist group was devastated by a counter-assault from the Syrian Armed Forces on Wednesday morning.

The ISIS assault at Maskar Al-Hesan, Jubb Al-Jarrah and Al-Massa’oudiyeh began around 8:45 A.M. (Damascus Time) on Wednesday morning, when a large contingent from the terrorist group simultaneously stormed the aforementioned towns, as they endeavored to infiltrate past the National Defense Forces’ positions and enter this rugged area situated just south of the Al-Salamiyah District of the Hama Governorate.

Unfortunately for the militants from ISIS, they faced-off against a well-armed NDF unit that remained unmoved by the surprise assaults on Maskar Al-Hesan, Jubb Al-Jarrah and Al-Massa’oudiyeh.

As the battle between the NDF and ISIS waged-on, the latter terrorist group was unable to penetrate the Syrian Armed Forces’ defensive positions, resulting in heavy losses and a fractured frontline.

This battle finally reached its conclusion after NDF reinforcements poured-in from a nearby village to help drive back the ISIS combatants in the Jubb Al-Jarrah area – the battle lasted for almost seven hours before ISIS finally withdrew towards a nearby location in order to evade the constant aerial attacks by the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF).

According to a military source in Homs, the Syrian Armed Forces killed 34 militants from ISIS, including Jamal Bashir Al-‘Abdullah, Nour al-Deen Faysal Al-Moubussali, Qassem Mohammad Bustani, ‘Umar Yousif Dandashi, Talal Mohammad Khaldoun, Mohammad Ahmad Al-Mohammad, Mohammad Mustafa Al-Hayyani.

The source further added that all three towns are under the full-control of the Syrian Armed Forces.