Islamic State militants attacked the town of al-Sukhna on Thursday; Russian and Syrian response killed at least 20 ISIS militants; ISIS still managed to enter the town and gain a foothold; Report of Russian aircraft being destroyed in separate attack.

On Thursday, al-Sukhna was caught off guard when militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) unleashed an attack, seeking to infiltrate the central Syrian town located within the Homs province. The militants are reported to have killed at least 25 Syrian pro-government fighters in the process.

In response, Russian fighter jets and pro-government Syrian forces killed a reported 22 ISIS militants. Despite the devastating response attack from the Russians, the militants still managed to gain a foothold throughout the town. Al-Sukhna is a town that was captured from ISIS back in 2017 by forces belonging to the Assad regime.

This is the deadliest attack involving ISIS to take place since December 2019 when ISIS killed over 15 people, some civilians, near Homs, Syria. Thursday’s exchange of attacks left nearly 50 people dead.

Additionally, there are reports of a separate strike that took place at the T4 airbase in Syria that led to the destruction of three fighter jets belonging to the Russians; two Sukhoi SU-24 and one Sukhoi SU-22. It’s reported that this attack came via UAV.