In pictures: ISIS launches Aleppo counter-offensive to retake turf captured by Syrian troops

YemenExtra

M.A.

On Sunday morning, a Daesh platoon mobilized on the provincial border between Raqqa and Aleppo to carry out a risky attack against the newly liberated government-held town of Muhammad Deeb.

In what appeared to be a successful hit-and-run raid, Daesh fighters engaged the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in close-quarter combat amid the bombed-out rubble of Muhammad Deeb and were able to capture a batch of guns, anti-tank missiles and grenades.

Subsequently, the rebel combatants retreated to their initial positions in the evening hours, bringing with them the much-needed spoils of war.

According to a military source, the SAA’s Tiger Forces did endure a Daesh attack on Muhammad Deeb and briefly withdrew from some gun emplacements for tactical reasons. All points were late retaken, the source confirmed.

The Tiger Forces commander-in-chief Suheil Al-Hassan is deployed on the Aleppo frontier and is known to employ tactics that always aim to result in less government casualties.

A few days ago, the SAA secured some 20 villages on the southern bank of the Euphrates River, thus forming a vital foothold inside Raqqa province itself.