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BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:40 P.M.) – The ISIS terrorist group has released a 7-minute video showing their forces raiding an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) base in vast desert spaces of eastern Homs Governorate.

As can be seen in the video, the raid against the Iranian base was massive, involving at least 100 ISIS fighters mounted into makeshift armored personnel carriers (APC) and Toyota pickups.

In a fashion typical of most ISIS raids, the terrorist group’s militants unleashed a hail of tracer-heavy machine gun fire (of all calibers) and rocket launcher fire to stun Iranian-led forces (some of which were Iraqi paramilitaries). Moving right up to the earth-walls of the IRGC outpost and surrounding it, Islamic State fighters then proceeded to pick-off Iranian and Iraqi troops who are unable to flee the site.

Considering the sheer surprise and overwhelming force by which ISIS conducted the raid, it is clear that the Iranian-led forces within the base never really had any chance to defend their position or even withdraw from it.

It appears that the IRGC forward outpost was manned by between twelve to eighteen troops, all but one of which were killed outright. As shown in the video, the one Iranian soldier who survives the gunfight is snatched by the terrorist group, driven back to ISIS-held territory, decapitated and left to rot in public view.

Advertisements </s> At least 10 Iranian border guards have been killed in an overnight attack by unidentified gunmen near the Iraqi border, according to media in in Iran.

The incident took place near the town of Marivan, in a Kurdish area of Iran some 620km west of the capital, Tehran, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

"The attack by the evil rebels and terrorists against a revolutionary border post and the explosion of a munitions depot caused the martyrdom of 10 fighters," a statement by the Revolutionary Guards, as quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, said on Saturday.

Provincial security official Hosein Khosheqbal told state television that 11 members of the Guards' voluntary Basij forces were killed in the overnight violence in Marivan, which he blamed on the Kurdish armed opposition group The Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK).

"The latest news is that the Basij [the government-aligned militia] and Guards forces are in hot pursuit of the attackers," Khosheqbal said.

It was not immediately clear why there was a discrepancy in the number of fatalities reported.

It was the largest number of Iranian troops killed in a single attack on the Iraqi border in recent years, though the area has seen occasional fighting between Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists as well as fighters linked to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

Earlier this month, the Revolutionary Guards said they had killed three fighters in a security operation near the border with Iraq. Nine other were reported killed by the Guards last month further north on the border.

There is little coordination between Iranian and Iraqi forces over security of the porous border that has also been used by ISIL to enter Iran.

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday that security forces in southwest Iran arrested four suspected ISIL operatives who were planning attacks.

In June 2017, ISIL fighters carried out coordinated attacks at the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini south of the capital, killing at least 18 people. </s> Regime forces have ousted Isil from Al-Sukhna, the last jihadist-held town in Homs province.

A commando operation backed by Russian warplanes and helicopters has killed 25 members of the Islamic State jihadist group in central Syria.

Supported by regime ally Russia, Syria's army has waged a months-long offensive to recapture the vast desert region that stretches from the country's centre to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders. </s> DUBAI: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had killed three militants in a security operation conducted on Saturday in the west of the country near the border with Iraq, state media reported.

The "anti-revolutionary terrorists" had planned sabotage attacks after crossing the border into Iran in the Kermanshah area, the Guards said in a statement carried by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

The statement did not elaborate on the identity of the militants. Armed opposition Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq are active in the border areas.

A local volunteer fighting alongside the Guards was also killed and a fourth militant was injured, the statement said, adding that weapons, ammunition and equipment had been seized.

Iran’s border with Iraq is porous and there is little coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

Last month, the Guards said they had killed nine militants during a security operation in a border area more than 300 km (190 miles) to the north.

In 2017, Islamic State militants carried out coordinated attacks at the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini south of the capital, killing 18 people. </s> A commando operation backed by Russian warplanes and helicopters has killed 25 members of the Islamic State jihadist group in central Syria, a monitor said Sunday.

Supported by regime ally Russia, Syria's army has waged a months-long offensive to recapture the vast desert region that stretches from the country's centre to the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.

On Saturday, "25 IS members were killed and others wounded in a commando operation by Syrian regime forces with air support from Russian warplanes and helicopters" in the northeast of Homs province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Six members of the regime forces were also killed, it said.

A military source said the operation occurred "20 kilometres inside Daesh (IS) terrorist lines".

The raid allowed regime forces to seize control of three villages in the area, official news agency SANA reported the source as saying.

The army has captured swathes of territory from the jihadists in the province. According to the Observatory, IS now controls just dozens of villages in the east of Homs.

The Syrian "Badiya" is a large stretch of desert that extends over around 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) of territory.

Since 2015, much of the Badiya has been held by IS, but Syria's army has been chipping away at it since May.

Regime forces have ousted IS from Al-Sukhna, the last jihadist-held town in Homs province.

Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are also fighting the jihadists in the south of neighbouring Raqa province.

A US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance meanwhile is battling to retake the provincial capital, Raqa city, from IS.

The jihadists also hold the majority of the vast desert province of Deir Ezzor including most of its provincial capital.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests. </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON (11:05 P.M.) – The Islamic State (ISIL) launched a massive offensive in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate, Wednesday, targeting the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) positions near the strategic T-2 Pumping Station.

ISIL began the assault by storming the Syrian Army’s positions in the Humaymah area of Homs; this resulted in a fierce battle that ensued for several hours.

Despite the intensity of the attack, the Islamic State was unable to capture any territory from the Syrian Army.

The source added that the Syrian Army lost 22 soldiers during the battle.

ISIL’s failed offensive in eastern Homs is likely the first of very many as reinforcements from eastern Hama pour into to aid the terrorist group. </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had killed three militants in a security operation conducted on Saturday in the west of the country near the border with Iraq, state media reported.

The "anti-revolutionary terrorists" had planned sabotage attacks after crossing the border into Iran in the Kermanshah area, the Guards said in a statement carried by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

The statement did not elaborate on the identity of the militants. Armed opposition Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq are active in the border areas.

A local volunteer fighting alongside the Guards was also killed and a fourth militant was injured, the statement said, adding that weapons, ammunition and equipment had been seized.

Iran’s border with Iraq is porous and there is little coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

Last month, the Guards said they had killed nine militants during a security operation in a border area more than 300 km (190 miles) to the north.

In 2017, Islamic State militants carried out coordinated attacks at the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini south of the capital, killing 18 people.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Gareth Jones) </s> DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had killed three militants in a security operation conducted on Saturday in the west of the country near the border with Iraq, state media reported.

The "anti-revolutionary terrorists" had planned sabotage attacks after crossing the border into Iran in the Kermanshah area, the Guards said in a statement carried by the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

The statement did not elaborate on the identity of the militants. Armed opposition Kurdish groups based in northern Iraq are active in the border areas.

A local volunteer fighting alongside the Guards was also killed and a fourth militant was injured, the statement said, adding that weapons, ammunition and equipment had been seized.

Iran’s border with Iraq is porous and there is little coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

Last month, the Guards said they had killed nine militants during a security operation in a border area more than 300 km (190 miles) to the north.

In 2017, Islamic State militants carried out coordinated attacks at the parliament building in Tehran and the mausoleum of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini south of the capital, killing 18 people.

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. </s> Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) killed three suspected militants in a security operation conducted on July 14 in the western part of the country near the border with Iraq, state media reports.

The IRGC, in a statement carried by Iran's official news agency IRNA, said that "antirevolutionary terrorists" had planned sabotage attacks after crossing the border into Iran in the Kermanshah region.

The statement did not give the identity of the militants. Kurdish opposition fighters based in northern Iraq are active in the border areas.

Iran and Iraq share a porous border and there is little coordination between the security forces of the two countries.

Islamic State militants last year carried out coordinated attacks on the parliament building in the capital, Tehran, and the mausoleum of Iran's Islamic revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini south of the capital, killing 18 people.

Based on reporting by IRNA and Reuters
ISIL forces raid an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base in vast desert spaces of eastern Homs Governorate, Syria, manned by between 12 to 18 fighters, all but one of which are killed.