169: Chapter 169 The Second Round of Attack Begins

Although Major General Zaha ordered the various Mechanized Infantry Brigades to rest and regroup, the Opposition Armed Forces were unwilling to accept defeat. They launched sporadic attacks against the Syria military, forcing the Mechanized Infantry Brigades to shift their focus to defending certain positions and striking back at the Opposition Armed Forces.

Such intermittent fighting continued for over half a month. The Opposition Armed Forces were unable to gain any significant advantage; although they recaptured some positions, none were important towns, and the deployments of the Syria military remained unaffected.

Once the Mechanized Infantry Brigades had finished resting and regrouping, Major General Zaha immediately issued the order for the second offensive. Suddenly, the entire northern front was plunged back into intense combat.

Although the Opposition Armed Forces had received significant weapon and equipment aid from the USA, and Lieutenant General Green had even provided them with some armored vehicles, their combat capabilities still could not compare to those of the Syria military.

The focus of this offensive was Rashidiyah. If they could successfully capture Rashidiyah, the Syria military would be able to advance directly toward the USA's Hera Joint Military Base, creating a posture of direct assault against the USA.

Major General Zaha placed great importance on this offensive, deploying all six replenished Mechanized Infantry Brigades and two artillery brigades to attack Rashidiyah at once. By focusing the offensive on Rashidiyah, he could also force the Opposition Armed Forces to concentrate more troops to engage the Syria military, thereby depleting the Opposition Armed Forces' strength.

The second offensive began with the battle to retake Mayalda, a small town in the southeast of Rashidiyah. After a Mechanized Infantry Brigade launched a surprise attack on Mayalda, the defending Opposition Armed Forces were unable to react in time and were soon entangled with the Syria military.

The Syria military fully utilized the advantages of their tanks and armored vehicles, shelling the defensive positions of the Opposition Armed Forces, destroying the fortifications built by the Opposition Armed Forces one by one, and uprooting one stronghold after another, leaving the defensive lines of the Opposition Armed Forces riddled with holes.

After a battle that lasted a day and a night, the majority of the Opposition Armed Forces in Mayalda were annihilated, with only a small number managing to retreat beforehand and escape disaster. After completing the occupation of Mayalda, the Mechanized Infantry Brigade took a brief rest to replenish ammunition before immediately advancing toward Rashidiyah.

Mechanized Infantry Brigades from other directions also closed in on Rashidiyah from the southeast and west, step by step. Some Mechanized Infantry Brigades encountered strong resistance from the Opposition Armed Forces, which briefly delayed the advance of the Syria military, but ultimately, due to their inferior weapons and equipment, they were unable to hold them off for long.

As the various Mechanized Infantry Brigades arrived at the outskirts of Rashidiyah one after another, a siege ring around Rashidiyah began to take shape. Upon receiving intelligence from Rashidiyah that the Syria military had assembled multiple Mechanized Infantry Brigades in preparation for an attack on Rashidiyah, Leader Tara considered the situation and had no choice but to send reinforcements to bolster the defense of Rashidiyah.

After all, if Rashidiyah were captured by Syria, the USA's military base would soon face a direct attack from Syria. If the USA saw that the situation was untenable, they would very likely withdraw their troops and leave Syria.

To solidify the USA's confidence in remaining in Syria, the Opposition Armed Forces had to spare no effort in holding Rashidiyah. To this end, Leader Tara transferred over 50,000 troops to reinforce Rashidiyah; although many were untrained soldiers, they could still be thrown into the battle.

Both sides were going all out to prepare for the battle. For a time, the clouds of war loomed over Rashidiyah, and various factions were closely watching the trends of the battlefield in Syria. Regardless of who won or lost, it would have a significant impact on the future situation in Syria.

Once the various Mechanized Infantry Brigades had taken up their positions, Major General Zaha immediately issued the order to capture Rashidiyah. As two artillery brigades and twelve self-propelled artillery battalions launched a sustained bombardment on Rashidiyah, the battle for Rashidiyah began.

Under the reconnaissance of the "Sky Dragon Mark I UAV", the "Fierce Lion series Artillery" continuously adjusted their bombardment targets. Although the Opposition Armed Forces also launched some counterattacks, they were unable to have any significant impact on the Syria military's shelling.

Leader Tara also requested Lieutenant General Green to send fighter jets to conduct airstrikes against the attacking Syria military. However, when three "Reaper" UAVs were sent for reconnaissance, one was shot down directly, and the remaining two UAVs hastily gathered intelligence and left.

Lieutenant General Green saw the gathered intelligence and promised Leader Tara that he would send air support, but there was no subsequent action. After all, the Syria military had many air defense missile positions; sending the USA to conduct airstrikes was just a recipe for suicide, wasn't it? Lieutenant General Green certainly wouldn't dare do that now.

The bombardment of Rashidiyah lasted for two full days. Most of the defensive fortifications previously built by the Opposition Armed Forces were destroyed, and even the ones they had rushed to repair were largely damaged.

Seeing that the Opposition Armed Forces were no longer launching counterattacks, five Mechanized Infantry Brigades began to slowly advance toward Rashidiyah, clearing out the Opposition Armed Forces personnel from every village and every building one by one. Such an offensive could not be completed in a short amount of time.

Fortunately, most of the Opposition Armed Forces' defensive fortifications had been destroyed, and the remaining ones could not withstand the shelling from tanks and armored vehicles. The advance of the Syria military was progressing quite ideally, gradually compressing the living space of the Opposition Armed Forces.

Major General Zaha was very pleased to see that the progress of the offensive on Rashidiyah was going smoothly. Although this method of attack required the consumption of a lot of ammunition, its advantage lay in its ability to control the casualties of the Syria military. If they had launched a large-scale assault from the beginning and entered Rashidiyah, the resulting casualties would have been far higher than with the current method of attack.

Leader Tara's heart bled when he saw the casualty data of the Opposition Armed Forces reported to him from the front line. After all, the troops sent to Rashidiyah, combined with the original force, totaled over 60,000 men. Yet, now that the war had just begun, casualties had already exceeded 20,000, and he really did not have much confidence in whether the remaining forces could hold Rashidiyah.

Leader Tara could only strictly order the Opposition Armed Forces on the front line to hold their positions at all costs. At the same time, he was trying every possible way to launch offensives from other locations to divert the Syria military's forces attacking Rashidiyah and alleviate the pressure on Rashidiyah.

Soon, he found two locations, Shadadi and Aibai, to serve as breakthrough points. These two places were at a moderate distance from Rashidiyah and had only recently been captured by the Syria military, which had not yet had time to consolidate their governance of the areas.

As long as he launched an offensive against these two places, it would inevitably affect the deployment of the Syria military. If the Syria military in these two locations could not hold their ground, they would naturally need to draw troops from Rashidiyah for reinforcements.