The strategy of the Syrian army (SAA) and Russia against the Islamic State in Badia does not work. IS jihadists continue to counterattack despite continued air operations and campaigns

Roundups by the Syrian army (SAA) and allied militias in the Badia desert against the Islamic State continue to be ineffective. In fact, as soon as the enemy offensive is over, the jihadists immediately resume their counterattack. The latest episode took place just a few hours ago in Jabal Al-Bishri, south of Deir Ezzor. An IS commando ambushed the Damascus troops, killing one soldier and wounding two others. In recent days, moreover, the terrorists had carried out a surprise raid east of Hama against the Fifth Army Corps. This, despite the continuing operations to flush out the cells, also supported by the Russian air component. The maneuvers are now concentrating on the administrative border between Deir Ezzor and Raqqa, but it does not seem that they are bringing great results.

Damascus pays for the humint shortage in the area, also due to the lack of support from the local population

The greatest difficulty of the Syrian army against the Islamic State in Badia is essentially due to the scarcity of intelligence information. These, in fact, are mostly based on the data provided by Russia and not on humint. Jihadists continuously move around the region and coordinate operations with mobile command centers, mounted on trucks. Consequently, it is difficult to track them. Furthermore, the local population does not like the government and least of all the SAA and the allies, who have been responsible for numerous crimes in the quadrant. People don’t see major differences with IS and therefore they provide little information. This information gap penalizes Damascus, which is unable to obtain concrete results despite numerous and prolonged efforts.