and 90 armed vehicles to reinforce the military airport defense. On 14 September, SAA reportedly destroyed a fortified base belonging to ISIS, killing 14 militants in the process. The next day, Special forces and Syrian Army engineers blew up the Siyasiyeh Bridge (Political Bridge), reportedly killing all the militants who were on it. ISIS thus lost the only available land route to move into parts of the city it controls. The offensive intensified on 11 October, when the Army stormed the Al-Ba’ajeen School in the Jubeileh district of the city. The school was used by ISIS as a headquarters. On the night of 14–15 October, the Republican Guard 104th Brigade reportedly captured the village of Haweeja Saqr near Deir ez-Zor, killing 33 ISIS militants, including four field commanders, and capturing another 15. Nine Republican Guard troops, including two officers, died in the fighting. On 21 October, ISIS attacked the al-Sina'a industrial quarter of the city. Opposition sources claimed it managed to break through Army defences, but a military source stated that the attack was repulsed and resulted in the death of 23 militants, including Zakaria al-Aboush, a former Free Syrian Army commander of the Ansar al-Islam. Government troops also continued their offensive against Sakr Island in an attempt to create a buffer zone between ISIS-held areas and the old military airport. On 24 October, ISIS again failed to storm the al-Sina'a industrial zone, suffering about 50 casualties and dozens of wounded according to the Army. By that point, the 104th was clashing with militants in the north of the island and was controlling most of it according to the Army. The Army claimed that the 104th reached the Al Anafat bridge between Saqr island and the city while remnants of ISIS in the north-eastern part of the island still clashed with government forces on 26 October. Two days later, ISIS detonated a car bomb in a residential area on Sakr island, killing 3 civilians and wounding 11 others. The bombing was followed by intense clashes which reportedly left 44 jihadists dead while another 22 were captured. An ISIS drone was downed over the cemetery on the next day. According to the Army, government troops killed another 120 insurgents from 29 to 31 October, and managed to assert control over 90% of Sakr Island. On 12 November, government troops reportedly captured the western bank fisheries on Sakr Island, which were used