Syrian army ambushed by IS: 10 soldiers killed, T-90 tank destroyed

Currently, the Syrian Army and allied forces are fiercely attacking the city of Abu Kamal in southeastern Syria, which is currently occupied by IS.

After the Islamic State (IS) terrorist organization recaptured the city of Abu Kamal (al-Bukamal), in southeastern Syria; on November 15, six Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers conducted a massive attack on IS targets near al-Bukamal.

The city lies on the Syria-Iraq border, guarding the vital route connecting the Iraqi and Syrian capitals (Baghdad-Damascus), on the supply route from Iran to Iraq to Syria and possibly Hezbollah; and is also the route that IS terrorists run from Iraq to Syria.

Therefore, capturing this city is the top priority for the Syrian Army, and IS terrorists are determined to keep it. This shows that an extremely fierce battle will take place in Abu Kamal in the coming days.

On November 16, media reports said the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its key allies, the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), were attacking the border city of Al-Bukamal from three directions.

Accordingly, the SAA, IRGC and Hezbollah attacked IS terrorist defense positions in the northwest, west and southeast areas of al-Bukamal. However, the pro-government forces faced strong resistance from IS.

Currently, Hezbollah media reported that clashes are still continuing around al-Bukamal and in some districts of the city. However, the SAA has not achieved any significant victories, but on the contrary, they have suffered great losses.

The IS-affiliated news agency Amaq said that IS terrorists attacked a gathering of SAA soldiers west of al-Bukamal city with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), killing seven SAA soldiers.

IS burned down the T-90A of the Tiger Force special forces.

Amaq also reported that IS militants also destroyed a bulldozer, a tank, and damaged another SAA tank with ATGMs west of al-Bukamal city and repelled all Syrian Army attacks in these directions.

In the direction of attack from the North, IS also caused a lot of difficulties and damage to the Tiger Force of the Syrian Army, when they advanced south from the most important city of Mayadin, to join Abu Kamal with other forces.

According to local media, IS terrorists ambushed a group of Syrian troops in the area near Al-Kashma, south of al-Mayadin city in Deir Ezzor province. This is an area located on the direction of the Tiger special forces' attack.

According to photos provided by Amaq, IS members killed about 10 Syrian special forces gunmen and completely destroyed a T-90A main battle tank - dubbed the "divine tank" - of the Tiger Forces.

Although IS did not announce what kind of firepower was used to destroy the T-90 and kill 10 Syrian soldiers, the media said that this was an ATGM shot that caused the turret of the T-90 to fly several meters away. With this hit, the crew probably would not have survived.

Currently, the Tiger Forces are developing an offensive direction from Mayadin south to al-Bukamal. However, they have been unable to approach this strategic city, facing fierce resistance from IS.

At the same time, Russia also accused the US and SDF of doing their best to prevent the SAA from capturing Abu Kamal, by dropping IS remnants to reinforce Abu Kamal, sabotaging communications, and even sending US fighter jets to intercept Russian planes that were bombing IS.

According to Baodatviet