The reporter added that the army launched artillery strikes in parallel with airstrikes on the terrorists’ infiltration points and sites in the villages of al-Shmeitiyeh, Ayyash, al-Kharita and al-Bugheiliyeh, destroying ammunition and killing a number of terrorists, including the Saudi terrorist Issa Nasser al-Hijazi, the leader of the so-called “al-Hisba” in al-Qasbi town in the northwestern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
In light of the escalation of the locals’ operations in rejection of the presence of ISIL terrorists in their areas, local sources confirmed to SANA correspondent that clashes erupted between the residents of al-Qouriya village in al-Mayadin area and members of an ISIL patrol when terrorists attempted to arrest a number of young people in the village and force them to fight in the battle to cover the huge shortage of members their ranks suffer from due to losses in battles against Syrian Arab Army and the allied forces.
The sources added that the clashes resulted in the injuring of a number of terrorists, including Khaled al-Azawi, who is known as “Abu al-Adia”, the media official in al-Ashara city.
The sources pointed out that ISIL patrols arrested 23 young men from al-Bseira area and Maadan city, noting that more ISIL leaders have fled away, including Ammar al-Sattam, Mohammad al-Hmeidan, Mohammad al-Fahd and Mohammad al-Akkaf.
SANA/MNA