Islamic State sent elite troops, tanks to Syria from Iraq: media

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Islamic State’s latest offensive against the Syrian Arab Army in eastern Syria was only made possible due to the fact that the militant group transferred huge numbers of troops and heavy equipment from western Iraq, Al-Masdar News reports.

According to military sources, IS relocated a considerable amount of military resources from its strongholds in western Iraq to southeastern Syria in order to launch its revenge offensive, code-named Ghazwat Abu Muhammad al-Adnani (after a top Islamic State commander who was killed in a Russian airstrike last year), against the Syrian Army.

The reinforcements sent by IS included elite shock troops (inghamasis), battle tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and gun-trucks outfitted with machine guns and heavy cannons.

The fact that the militant group was forced to rely on resource transfers from western Iraq stands as a testament to how exhausted its strategic reserve in Syria is after a whole year of constant defeats across various battlefields in east Aleppo, Raqqa, east Homs and Deir ez-Zor, Al-Masdar News says.

The Syrian Arab Army has said it is in the process of reserving all IS gains along the M20 highway and south of the small city of al-Sukhnah.