Now, everything is coming together!
"Lure the tiger out of the mountain..."
Baghdadi muttered to himself, his voice low and hoarse, with a violent realization.
"Good tactics! Using Mosul as bait, leading our sharpest claws away... The real target is Ashara! They're trying to rescue that damned cook and stab a knife in our heartland!"
An intense feeling of humiliation from being tricked, mixed with the overwhelming fury from the defeat at Mosul, instantly shattered the last shred of his rationality.
"Ah—!"
He let out a beast-like roar, slamming his hands on the table, making the cups on the table jump.
When he turned around, his bloodshot eyes glanced over the room's silent leaders, who dared not to utter a word, every syllable soaked in blood and madness:
"Order!"
His voice carried a grating sound of teeth gnashing.
"Deir Ezzor! Everyone near Deir Ezzor who can pick up a gun! Imdiately! Right now! Move out! Target: The southeastern foot of Gelbi Mountain! Turn over that mountain for ! Dig three feet down! Find that Song Heping! That deadbeat! Get him for !"
He panted heavily, his chest heaving, his bearded face trembling with excitent: "Rally! Gather three thousand n for ! No! Everyone who can move, get going! Armored cars! Pickups! Heavy machine guns! Mortars! Bring them all! I want to see every rock of Gelbi Mountain tremble under our feet! I want every scorpion, every snake there to rember today!"
He suddenly drew a cheap gemstone-encrusted sword from his waist, the tip pointing at the map position of Gelbi Mountain, his voice twisted with extre hatred: "Find him! Surround him! I want him alive! If you can't catch him alive..."
He paused, his mouth curled into a ferociously dark smile, exposing his yellowed teeth.
"Then slice his corpse into pieces! Grind his bones into powder, scatter it on the land of Mosul, where Allah's warriors sacrificed! I want everyone to know the consequences of angering Allah's sword!"
The order, like a wildfire, spread instantly through the entire camp, then crazy through encrypted radio and motorcycle ssengers, transmitted to ISIS-controlled bases throughout Deir Ezzor province.
The silent desert around Deir Ezzor was suddenly awakened.
The roar of engines tore through the dry air, rusty pickups welded with machine gun racks kicked up billowing yellow dust, rushing out from all directions, uniting into turbulent streams of steel.
The ard n, with their heads wrapped in black scarves and wild-eyed, crowded the cargo beds, low-quality ammunition belts reflecting blinding light under the sun.
BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles painted in black and modified truck cannons also breathed heavily, tracks and tires rolling over the gravel roads, emitting a heart-stopping creaking sound.
Dust rose like a yellow dragon, expanding across the desert, rushing toward the silent, rugged mountain terrain in the west—Gelbi Mountain.
The air was thick with the pungent odor of bad diesel, sweat, and the excitent of a thing called "revenge."
The breath of death followed the dust kicked up by the convoy, rapidly surrounding Gelbi Mountain.
Siria, west of Deir Ezzor city, Gelbi Mountains.
Song Heping leaned against a large rock, anxiously looking at his wrist military watch.
Ti trickled away, moving closer to dawn.
If dawn arrives, it ans waiting until sunset again.
At this mont, 400 Wake Na soldiers are already hidden in the nearby mountain valleys, waiting for his command to move forward towards Ashara Town for a raid operation, to rescue the trapped Wake Na rcenaries and the unknown fate of the cook inside.
The most critical point now is whether the 1515 ard forces outside Ashara Town show signs of leaving.
Once a large-scale withdrawal of 1515 ard mbers around Deir Ezzor and Ashara Town occurs, it ans the Mosul operation has taken effect, the timing to act is ripe, and they can freely execute the planned strategy.
However, until now, there seems to be no movent...
Over twenty minutes ago, he had just spoken on the phone with Samir.
News ca from the Mosul direction—the actions of the "Eligo Liberation Forces" militia were very successful, a brilliant ambush wiped out all 800 pursuing 1515 ard mbers outside the city.
Now, they are organizing forces to launch a new offensive on Mosul, with only an estimated fewer than two hundred 1515 ard mbers remaining in the city; reclaiming Mosul is almost a certainty...
"Why is there still no movent?"
Song Heping checked his watch again, unable to refrain from picking up the radio to ask the lookout: "Jiang Feng, any movent from the 1515 ard mbers towards Ashara Town and Deir Ezzor?"
"No..."
"Strange..."
"Hold on!"
Jiang Feng's tone suddenly beca tense.
"They're moving! They're moving!"
"Is it?"
Song Heping breathed a sigh of relief.
"But..."
Jiang Feng's tone turned to confusion.
"It seems they're heading towards our direction... That's right! They're coming towards us... No, they're encircling us!"
"What?!"
Song Heping jumped to his feet, quickly running to higher ground.
Why are they coming towards the Gelbi Mountains?
If returning to defend Mosul, they should be heading east, but the Gelbi Mountains are southwest.
Sothing's not right!
Two minutes later, he reached the lookout at higher ground.
Jiang Feng pointed to the mounted high-powered telescope: "Look!"
Song Heping plastered his eyes to the telescope, gazing toward Deir Ezzor and Ashara Town.
The horizon in the distance appeared filled with dancing dust.
Upon closer inspection, it was yellow sand and dust raised by convoys.
The previously observable 1515 camp was also in turmoil, the scattered patrols vanished, replaced by countless ant-like dense and fast-moving silhouettes!
They were pouring out from various scattered camps and fortifications, converging into distinct streams of people.
The engine of the pickup trucks humd in the quiet desert night, deliberately concealed headlights leaving only two blurry fast-moving dark green halos.
What made Song Heping frown even tighter was that several ard pickups painted with black skull marks were towing ZPU-2 dual barrel machine guns, supposed to be deployed at strategic fire points—usually employed by extremists as flat-fired weapons; these heavy weapons were disassembled and loaded onto vehicles, moving with a nimbleness uncharacteristic of normal redeploynt, more resembling an assembled offensive posture.
Abnormal!
Extrely abnormal!
Song Heping instinctively breathed more lightly and slowly, but his body's muscles were tense like strung bowstrings.
He slowly rotated the angle of the night vision device, his sight firmly fixed on the ultimate direction of those moving flows of people and vehicles.
Not towards the Eligo border in Mosul!
That direction is deathly quiet.
Instead...toward east!
Toward east!
Precisely towards the main peak of the Gelbi Mountains where he is currently hiding!
They're coming for him!
"Damn! They know we're here!"
Song Heping cursed fiercely.
"We must have been betrayed!"
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