Syria Update: Attack Northward (Part 4.3)

Syria Update: Attack Northward (Part 4.3)

December 7, 2013





SAA assault troops continued to dismount and storm the roadside residential area buildings. The first building which had been stormed turned out to have been rigged with explosive devices. As they were retreating, the militants detonated the building. The SAA army assault group was badly hurt: one officer was killed and six troops were wounded. Helping their wounded, the soldiers started getting out of partially collapsed building. One soldier was dispatched to get medevac help but rescue vehicles had arrived before he even made it to the base. Now, he was waiting to rejoin his comrades.

An Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) arrived to evacuate the injured personnel. At that moment, another explosion went off. Luckily, this time the blast took place in an empty building. A medical support armored vehicle arrived shortly after the evacuation IFV. Finally, the wounded soldiers were taken to hospital for treatment. As we were passed by the armored vehicle, its driver let us know that the wounded had been evacuated and then the vehicle scurried away to the hospital.

Casualties did not stop the troops in their assault. They continued storming the building by widening the passage in its outer wall. The militants did not seem to anticipate that the storming of the building by the Syrian army troops would continue and began to dissipate running out of the building. Outside, a battle tank was already waiting for them.

Those targets that could not be reached by the tanks were being engaged by artillery fire.

SAA radioman: “Hold on to your positions for three more minutes! The tanks will come shortly.”

The militants kept streaming out of the building. The tanks were assisting the militants to get to their destination by air. There was no guarantee though that the terrorists or their baggage would get there in one piece.

In a little while, tank reinforcement arrived. SAA radioman: “Hurry up, tanks! Move fast!”

The tanks were busy securing the alleyway from which the militants kept fiercely firing at them. Some place elsewhere, a terrorist sniper fire was coming from, too. While seeking the enemy firing point, the tank was constantly changing its own position to evade possible mortar fire. Such maneuvering proved to have been done in a timely fashion, as it had a mortar suddenly zing by, missing the tank. Constant movement on the part of the tank did not allow the militants to take their aim at the tank. In a little while, one more mortar flew by with a zing, missing the tank.

As they ran out of ammunition, the tanks were swapping their positions. Now, the tanks received information on a militant anti-tank firing point. One of the tanks moved out to a position most convenient to deliver flank fire. The militant firing point was neutralized through combined efforts of artillery and tank fire.

In the meantime, the assault troops continued amassing their efforts in the area. The artillery fire that was engaging the enemy deeper in the militants’ defenses was thus providing additional support to the storming troops.

As soon as their mission by the roadside had been accomplished, the tanks immediately received another one. The infantry troops, securing the area deeper inland the urban area, were expecting heavy armor support.




Contributors: Vasily Pavlov, Andrey Filatov, Igor Nadyrshin, Victor Kuznetsov, Marat Musin.

ANNA-News. Syria.