Fighting continues in Homs desert and the regime forces renew their operation in an attempt to recover the areas they lost

Homs Province -The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: clashes are continuing between the regime forces backed by armed militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities against the members of the “Islamic State” organization, in areas in the eastern desert of Homs, in which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from a number of reliable sources that the clashes are continuing in the north-eastern desert of Al-Sukhnah, in an attempt by the regime forces to recover the positions they lost in the north-eastern desert of Al-Sukhnah and on Al-Dahik mountain and Al-Taybah town, and the regime forces are also trying to retake the control of Al-Qaryatayn city, which has been controlled by the organization for a week, and the clashes are accompanied by intensive and exchange of shelling between the both parties, amid raids by warplanes targeted positions of the regime forces in Al-Sukhnah desert.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday, that The “Islamic State” organization which infiltrated by groups to Al-Qaryatayn city and managed to control the city as well as hills and heights in its vicinity, detonated a booby trapped vehicle last night in a position of the regime forces resulted in the death of an officer with the rank of a lieutenant colonel and he is the commander of a Special Tasks Unit in the Internal Security in Homs, with other 5 members were with him, while the continuous fighting between the both parties resulted in the fall of more casualties in the ranks of the both parties, in which it rose to at least 456 the number of members in the ranks of the both parties of who have been documented by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since the 28th of September 2017, until the 7th of October 2017, in which the death toll rose to 217 members at least of the regime forces and gunmen loyal to them, including 26 members of the Lebanese Hezbollah and about 80 members of the militiamen loyal to the regime forces of Palestinian and Asian nationalities, while the death toll rose to about 239 members of ISIS of who were killed by blowing themselves up by using explosive belts and by booby trapped vehicles and in artillery and rocket shelling and raids and clashes against the regime forces in the areas where they attacked.

And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday, that The “Islamic State” organization which lost its presence in the provinces of Syria, and is under tight siege in its areas in some other provinces after losing much of what it used to control, yet, it did not miss an opportunity to strike the regime and Russia in their areas, where the recent attacks by the organization have got 2 points of strength, the first one is its entry to the depth of regime forces’ controlled areas and controlling a city about 100 km away from the nearest area controlled by the organization in Homs Desert, and the second one is that the “Islamic State” organization has completed its first week of attack and entered the second week of controlling the areas it attacked on the 28th of September 2017.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored a massive and violent attack carried out by the “Islamic State” organization in late September 2017 and it was led by the “Caliphate Army”, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned from reliable sources that the attacking army was led by leaders of non-Syrian nationalities (Arab and foreign) accompanied by fighters, infiltrators and suicide bombers and many of them are of the Syrian Bedouin, where this army was able during its successive and sudden attacks to exhaust the regime forces, and forced a lot of their members and gunmen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities to flee and pull out of their positions towards more fortified sites, this retreat enabled the organization to achieve an important advancement and control al-Tayba town and al-Dahek Mountain and other areas stretching from the western desert of Deir Ezzor to the eastern desert of Homs near al-Sukhnah area and the 3rd Station, also in the second phase of the attack some of groups of the organization have infiltrated and took control of Al-Qaryatayn city, located in the southeastern desert of Homs, and although the regime forces restored some of the sites they have lost, they failed to regain control of all areas they have lost until now, also the road between Deir Ezzor and al-Sukhnah is still closed after being controlled by the organization in some areas and being monitored in other areas.