"Civilians!"
As the machine gunners in each vehicle were positioned and ready to fire, Song Heping imdiately sent out a reminder on the intercom.
"Don't shoot!"
Upon hearing Song Heping's reminder, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Through the binoculars, Song Heping clearly saw that these were ordinary Syrian civilians, young and old, n and won, so pulling carts, others carrying bundles wrapped in bed linens, bulging with belongings.
"Ahead is Isriye City."
The driver pointed towards the town ahead.
"Mm, be cautious."
Song Heping rembered this town on the map.
This is a town about 100 kiloters from Latakia Port.
It's the gateway to Latakia and the necessary path from Latakia to Deir Ezzor.
He retrieved the map, checked the surroundings, confird the approximate coordinates, and then picked up the intercom.
"All vehicles, once we enter the city, move through quickly, do not linger excessively in the city."
The convoy accelerated and sped forward, soon intersecting with the crowd.
Through the car window, Song Heping looked at the civilians by the roadside.
Everyone's eyes were filled with fear, seeing these ard to the teeth armored personnel carriers, instinctively retreating to the roadside.
A child was dragging a wooden cart, walking alone with his head down.
On the cart lay a dirty blanket, beneath which appeared to be a corpse, as Song Heping saw a pair of feet stained with blood peeking out from under the blanket, the toenails already blackened, indicating the person had been dead for so ti.
"Everyone be aware, these are fleeing civilians, many are injured, they seem to have escaped from the eastern town, proving there is surely fighting ahead, stay alert, observers in each vehicle keep watching the surroundings, remain vigilant."
Song Heping worried that the young soldiers of the "Death God Squad" lacked experience, so he repeated the reminder.
The convoy slowly approached the town entrance, the outlines of the buildings becoming clearer.
Moreover, it seed more and more people were leaving the city, the dense crowd forcing the convoy to slow down again.
The driver in the lead vehicle pressed the horn, finally unable to resist, he rolled down the window, frantically waving and shouting at the crowd clogged ahead, "Don't block the road! Move! Move! We need to pass!"
The crowd swayed for a mont, then began to move toward the roadside.
In their eyes, Song Heping saw exhaustion and numbness in addition to fear.
Their hos plunged into battle, survival grounds destroyed by gunfire, possessions accumulated over half a lifeti gone, the future uncertain...
He recalled when he first arrived in Baghdad, he saw many civilians with the sa look in their eyes on the roadside.
War, civil unrest.
It is fatal to a country.
And often those ambitious ones fabricating such disasters under the guise of fighting for freedom deserve to be executed without trial.
The driver's reprimanding voice caught Song Heping's attention.
He turned his head and shouted at the driver, "Get your head back!"
"I..."
The driver hesitated, turned his head slightly wanting to explain, but in the next second, his head shattered—
Only then did Song Heping hear the gunshot.
Bang—
"Sniper!"
He imdiately shouted into the intercom.
Hit the target first, then hear the gunshot.
Although the ti difference is extrely brief, it could not escape the eyes of a seasoned battlefield veteran like Song Heping.
Exclude wind speed and wind resistance.
The sniper point is within 500 ters!
He quickly glanced ahead.
Many buildings.
But the two tallest five-story buildings in the distance seed most suspicious.
"Five hundred ters ahead, two gray five-story buildings, machine guns suppress!"
After speaking, he dragged the dead driver over, threw him into the troop transport cabin in the back, and seated himself in the driver's position.
Bang—
Another bullet hit the vehicle.
This ti the warhead aid at the windshield.
The reason the BMP-97 armored personnel carrier can be called an armored personnel carrier is that the entire vehicle has a steel armor body, providing comprehensive protection, capable of withstanding 7.62 mm machine gun bullets, with the thickest steel plate reaching 25 mm, even facing a 12.7 mm caliber machine gun has certain defensive capabilities.
Not only that, the vehicle's also equipped with an anti-explosion V-shaped chassis, used to protect against impacts from landmines and other explosives.
This is also why Song Heping borrowed these three armored personnel carriers from Hassan as a ans of transportation. Da Maozi's equipnt may not be refined, but it sure is durable.
Pa—
The warhead left a dent on the windshield.
Song Heping ignored it entirely, shifted gear, and stepped on the gas.
The BMP-97 personnel carrier's engine roared like a raging Bull, charging forward.
"Follow , charge in!"
Charge into the city, find cover, then disembark and search for the sniper.
That's the proper way.
Stopping in the middle of the road is just asking to be a sitting duck, if there are rocket launchers ambushed in nearby buildings, even a light armored personnel carrier couldn't withstand an RPG rocket, if hit, the entire vehicle could be obliterated!
The roof machine guns of the two rear vehicles started roaring.
Doo doo doo—
Doo doo doo—
Doo doo doo—
Concrete debris continuously splattered from the distant two gray building levels, erupting into clouds of dust.
Bang—
Just as the vehicle traveled several tens of ters, a panicked civilian ahead suddenly fell.
Bang—
With the second gunshot.
Another woman fell in the middle of the road.
Song Heping was forced to stop the vehicle.
"Despicable!"
Song Heping imdiately realized the opponent was deliberately shooting at civilians, then using fallen civilians to block the vehicle's progress.
The sniper's intent was obvious—to trap Song Heping and his team's vehicles in the middle of the road, unable to move.
Song Heping's hairs imdiately stood on end.
The danger was imnse and getting closer.
Bang—
With another gunshot, the machine gunner in Song Heping's vehicle fell back into the car like a boiled noodle.
Jiang Feng turned him over, took a look, and shouted, "Killed in action!"
Song Heping knew now was not the ti to delay.
Three civilian bodies already lay ahead.
One victim was still alive, wailing on the road.
But it was already too late.
He grit his teeth, slamd the gas pedal, and shouted, "Follow , charge!"
The BMP-97 armored vehicle roared once more, charging forward like a ferocious beast.
A few seconds later, the vehicle jolted violently.
And then again.
And again...
A horrific image flashed in Song Heping's mind of corpses being crushed under the massive wheels.
But now it was either kill or be killed.
There's no ti to explain to the civilians.
Only this way could he save his and his comrades' lives!
The surrounding civilians wised up this ti.
Seeing the armored vehicle recklessly charging forward, they fled the road in terror like deer chased by predators on the African savannah.
The convoy quickly charged to the side of a building. Song Heping swerved the vehicle behind a wall, quickly opened the door, and disembarked with an AK-12 assault rifle in hand, shouting to Jiang Feng, "Organize fire suppression here, draw their fire, these guys are rookies, they're definitely still in the sa spot."
After saying this, he turned to Utekin and Is, "Utekin, follow . Is, take three people and sweep from the left, cover my flank, and look out for any RPG gunners in the surrounding buildings."
Utekin followed along.
Song Heping didn't waste words.
The general layout of the town was already clear in his mind.
His judgnt was correct.
Locate by sound.
This was a common training subject in the 203 unit.
Under varying terrain conditions, when being attacked by enemy snipers, hearing the general position of the opponent within two shots was qualified.
Now, all learned skills were being used.
The two quickly moved through different buildings towards the suspicious structure.
A minute later.
Song Heping halted at the base of a five-story building on the left.
He raised a fist, signaling Utekin to stop, then pointed to the rooftop and then to his ear.
Utekin nodded in understanding.
The two stood at the wall's base, listening intently.
Bang—
A gunshot rang from above.
This ti, Song Heping understood.
He pointed to another five-story building.
"There."
"Go."
With no wasted words, the two quickly found the entrance to the right five-story building.
It was a private property.
The building's structure suggested it once belonged to a wealthy family in the town.
But now it lay in ruins inside.
Rubble from explosions and shattered furniture remnants were everywhere.
Song Heping quickly located the stairs.
The two tried to avoid stepping on debris, moving like ghosts as they ascended.
Both were veteran special forces; their mutual cover tactics were proficient and fluid.
By the ti they reached the fourth floor.
They encountered no resistance.
Song Heping now felt more certain that the snipers in this building were novices.
Although their shooting was decent, they clearly lacked strict formal military training.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have set no traps, posted no guards, just mindlessly stayed on the fifth-floor rooftop focusing solely on killing.
It seed the combat quality of the opposition forces in this Siria turmoil was not high, with only a blind ferocity.
The two lowered their breathing rate, slowly making their way to the rooftop on the fifth floor.
Outside the small door leading to the rooftop, Song Heping peeked slightly, surveyed the situation, confird there were no wire traps, and noticed the two snipers behind the rooftop parapet wall.
Each held an SVD sniper rifle, with holes chiseled in the wall to aim through.
Though the holes offered limited views, since only one road led into the town, smaller views sufficed.
One was still firing wildly, engrossed in the shootout.
The other had rested his rifle aside, half-kneeling, holding an artillery observation mirror, the lens peeking over the parapet, observing the convoy's direction.
Song Heping nodded to Utekin; the two simultaneously rushed onto the rooftop.
The two snipers heard the footsteps this ti.
The one with the observation mirror whirled around, dropping the observation mirror onto the ground in shock.
The other turned, saw Song Heping, but couldn't redirect his aim in ti, instinctively started to surrender.
But Song Heping gave him no chance.
Bam bam—
A burst shattered the top of his skull.
Utekin's assault rifle spewed flas simultaneously.
The sniper who had just turned and dropped the observation mirror instinctively reached for the SVD sniper rifle on the ground but hadn't touched the stock before Utekin's three shots pinned him to the wall, his body slumping against it, leaving a wide trail of blood.
Song Heping stepped forward, kicked the firearm aside, and checked the adversary's breath.
"Dead."
Utekin made the judgnt.
"Dead as a doornail."
Song Heping's gaze fell on the faces of the two snipers.
But both faces were masked with black headscarves and bandanas.
He reached out, tore off the bandanas.
Two very young faces erged.
Back ho, they'd likely be considered minors, certainly not eighteen years old.
At this age, they had beco heartless snipers...
Utekin remarked, "They're 1515's n."
Song Heping's heart slightly sank.
If the 1515 ard group had already approached Isriye, it indicated they had breached this key junction towards Latakia Port.
That ant, nearly three hundred kiloters from here, in Deir Ezzor and Ashara...
Rat-tat-tat—
Bang bang bang—
Before Song Heping could pull away from his thoughts, concentrated gunfire sounded not far away.
Song Heping instinctively pressed against the parapet wall.
Listening briefly, he told Utekin, "There are more of them here, must have engaged with Is and his n."
The intercom suddenly buzzed with Is' voice, "We encountered the enemy, engaging in a firefight! Request support!"
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