Around 5:30 A.M. on Wednesday morning, the Syrian Arab Army’s 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard (Harss Al-Jamhouri) – backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and a local tribe – launched a major counter-offensive northeast of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport, killing scores of Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) militants before taking complete control of 1.5km of land adjacent to the base.