ISIS used the US military strike in Syria to its advantage on the battlefield

The base had been providing air support for soldiers fighting against the terrorist group, according to a local governor.
And ISIS were able to launch a major attack once the strikes had taken place.

U.S President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes on an airbase near the Syrian city of Homs, killing five people and wounding several more.

American warships in the east Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Syrian airfield, according to Russia Today.

President Trump said he ordered the strikes on the airfield because a chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held area that had been launched there this week.

He claimed he was acting in America’s ‘national security interest’ against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But ISIS were able to take advantage of the strike, launching a major offensive a major offensive to gain control of oil areas near Palmyra.

Homs Governor Talal Barazi said the airbase had been providing air support for army operations against Islamic State east of Palmyra and the attack served the interests of ‘armed terrorist groups’.

While the offence reportedly failed, local military sources say that without essential air support, the situation could get worse at any moment.

Speaking to al-Mayadeen, Barazi said there were civilian casualties at a village next to the base.
He said: ‘I believe – God willing – that the human casualties are not big, but there is material damage. We hope there are not many victims and martyrs.’

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organisation that reports on the war, said four Syrian soldiers were killed, including a senior officer.

Barazi said the attack was a form of ‘support for the armed terrorist groups, and it is an attempt to weaken the capabilities of the Syrian Arab Army to combat terrorism’.

He said: ‘The Syrian leadership and Syrian policy will not change.

‘This targeting was not the first and I don’t believe it will be the last.

‘The war against terrorism will continue.”

Source: /Metro.co.uk