Chapter 1590: All-in

After nightfall, a military airport in Damascus was exceptionally busy.

In order to drop one thousand Cataclysmic Front soldiers onto Hamid's base, all of Syria's few transport planes were mobilized. In addition, two cargo planes were urgently called up from civil aviation.

A total of six planes were responsible for carrying out tonight's flight mission, and Chen Zhonglei also selected the strongest one thousand elites from over eight thousand Cataclysmic Front soldiers, fully arming them in preparation for the early morning parachute drop.

In order to kill the enemy in one blow, Chen Zhonglei allocated all the high-end equipment to these one thousand people.

This included a full set of the best individual weapons for each person, the best bulletproof vest, a lightweight bulletproof helmet, a set of head-mounted night vision equipment, and multiple thermal imagers.

This kind of high-end standard equipment was expensive, and the purchase channels were very few. Even the Cataclysmic Front didn't have the ability to provide one set per person.

Chen Zhonglei felt that since it was a night raid, night vision equipment was simply a divine tool. On a night when the naked eye's visible distance was less than five meters, soldiers possessing night vision goggles were like cheating, with a huge advantage.

And his own soldiers also possessed very strong protective equipment. In close-quarters combat, even if the enemy provided firepower coverage, his own soldiers could guarantee with a very high probability that their vital parts wouldn't be shot, which could further expand the advantage.

Besides this, Chen Zhonglei also specially equipped these one thousand soldiers with a very cruel weapon: incendiary grenades.

This kind of incendiary grenade was standard equipment for the US military, similar in principle to napalm bombs, but made into the shape of a grenade, convenient for individual use.

Incendiary grenades used an aluminothermic reaction, which would produce high temperatures of up to three thousand degrees after explosion, capable of melting even steel.

If you threw two of these into an almost completely enclosed hidden fortification, it would be enough to burn the soldiers hiding inside into charcoal.

If the internal space of the hidden fortification was large, it didn't matter. When this kind of incendiary bomb burned fully, it could exhaust the internal oxygen, and the people inside would suffocate even if they weren't burned to death.

Using this kind of weapon to attack Hamid's hidden fortifications, in Chen Zhonglei's view, was most appropriate.

Superior weapons, superior vision, superior defense, and even more superior combat capability—Chen Zhonglei believed that his one thousand elites would definitely cause huge damage to the other party.

And in the military camp next to the airport, five thousand government army soldiers were also making their final assembly.

This was also Chen Zhonglei's third insurance. If the Cataclysmic Front soldiers fought fiercely after parachuting, the thousands of government army soldiers on the periphery would immediately launch a charge, annihilating the enemy from inside and outside.

And these five thousand soldiers were no longer using the combat plan from the daytime. They no longer carried towed artillery and large amounts of shells, but directly used nearly one hundred various transport vehicles, rapidly heading toward Hamid's base. If they were fast, they could reach the foot of Hamid's base in a few hours.

As for the Cataclysmic Front soldiers, they would board the planes at one o'clock in the morning, and then take off one after another within half an hour, heading to the airspace above Hamid's base.

While the soldiers were checking their equipment, these five thousand soldiers had already set off. Their movement speed couldn't compare to planes, so they had to set off one step ahead.

While the soldiers were checking their equipment, Chen Zhonglei was still giving them tactical instructions, telling them to fully exert and utilize their various advantages and do their best to ensure the smooth completion of the mission.

At one o'clock in the morning, the soldiers carrying parachute packs began to board the planes in an orderly manner.

Chen Zhonglei also personally boarded one of the military transport planes.

Although he wouldn't personally lead the parachute jump, he wanted to be on this military transport plane, using the communication equipment on the plane to receive the battle situation on the battlefield in real-time, so that he could provide tactical command the first time the soldiers needed him.

Subsequently, the planes took off one after another, divided into two echelons in the air, heading toward Hamid's base one after another.

And at the same time, the 5,000 government army soldiers were less than forty kilometers away from Hamid's position.

Due to full motorization, they were expected to arrive at the scheduled location in 40 minutes.

And in Hamid's base, it was a scene of bustling activity.

The 140-plus blast points that had been pre-buried were controlled by 14 blasters and engineering corps members respectively.

Each of them had blast points' locations and numbers marked on the detonator in front of them, and at the same time, they held a walkie-talkie using a dedicated channel.

Once the enemy appeared, once the soldiers responsible for reconnaissance determined the enemy's location, they would inform the required blast points through this walkie-talkie channel.

When the time came, the person responsible for blasting only needed to find the required blast point within their control range and detonate the specified blast point immediately.

In this way, even if 10-plus people were controlling 100-plus blast points, there would be no operational errors.

At the same time, Hamid's scouts were also staring intently at every road into the mountain, and drones were also ensuring they stayed in the air at all times. Although the drone's observation ability at night was greatly reduced, if the other party was a large troop moving, there would inevitably be lights, and while lights were hard to be discovered in the pitch-black mountains, the drone's perspective could see everything, so it was actually easier to discover the enemy at night.

Chen Zhonglei, sitting in the plane's cockpit, was observing the ground outside the window.

Syria's mountainous areas were very remote and closed off. Once it was night, the vast hilly areas only had sporadic light points. These were mostly villages located in the mountains, and some also belonged to small-scale opposition organizations.

The plane's two pilots were both Cataclysmic Front soldiers, because he was worried that the Syrian Air Force pilots' flight experience was insufficient, so Chen Zhonglei had replaced them all with his own people.

At this time, the captain said: "Commander, we will arrive at the parachute jumping position in another twenty minutes."

Chen Zhonglei looked out the window and said thoughtfully: "This place is truly too backward. It is said that many villages in the hilly areas still haven't been connected to electricity."

"Yes." The captain nodded: "These light points we can observe from above are mostly torches burning in villages, but anyone who can use electricity is basically an opposition armed force. Only they can afford generators."

Chen Zhonglei smacked his lips and said: "I really can't understand why we could sacrifice so many comrades fighting such backward armed forces... There is a strong sense of the unknown in my heart, making me a bit restless."

The captain hurriedly said: "Commander, you don't need to worry too much. We lost the battle during the day mainly because we underestimated the enemy, and plus the enemy's defensive fortifications were there, so we indeed didn't have the advantage."

"However, for a night raid, they will definitely be caught off guard!"

"Not to mention anything else, just the night vision equipment alone, I'm afraid they can't afford it at all. Even if they have it, I estimate there are only a few sets at most."

"Once our one thousand people press on, those few sets of night vision equipment will be useless. No matter how many soldiers they have, most of them will be like blind people. At that time, they definitely won't be able to withstand our offensive."

Chen Zhonglei nodded slightly: "I hope this time we descend like divine soldiers and can annihilate them in one fell swoop!!"

Ten minutes later, the prompt light in the cabin lit up.

The cabin door at the tail of the plane slowly opened. The soldiers knew very well that this was the signal to prepare for parachuting, so they stood up one after another and checked each other's parachute packs.

Twenty minutes later, when the planes arrived at the parachute jumping position one after another, batch after batch of soldiers descended from the sky, drifting toward Hamid's positions like raindrops.

Before the first paratrooper landed, Hamid had already received a reminder from the scouts. They had already discovered the parachuting paratroopers through night vision and thermal imaging equipment.

Thus, everyone was on high alert, waiting for this group of people to throw themselves into the net again! ===== CHAPTER 1591 =====