Syrian Army, Allies Breach 3-Year Daesh Siege on Deir Ez-Zor

05-09-2017 | 15:30

The Syrian presidency announced that Syrian Army troops and allied forces reached the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor on Tuesday, breaching a nearly 3-year Daesh siege on areas of the contested city near the Iraqi border.

In a statement, the office of Syrian President Bashar Assad praised Syrian army units that stood their ground throughout the siege.

State TV had previously reported that Syrian troops advancing from the west reached the western outskirts of the city and broke the siege after the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] defenses collapsed.

Breaching the siege on Deir ez-Zor, which has been occupied by Daesh since 2015, marks another triumph for President Bashar Assad, whose forces have been advancing on several fronts against Daesh and other insurgent groups over the past year.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which is based in the UK also said advancing troops and those defending the city have met.

The latest developments mark a strategic and symbolic defeat for Daesh, which last month lost its hold over Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul and is under attack by US-backed Syrian forces in its self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, northwest of Deir ez-Zor.

Syrian troops and allied forces, backed by Russia’s air force, have for months been advancing toward Deir ez-Zor, the provincial capital of the oil-rich province of the same name. The breach is expected to end a nightmare siege for tens of thousands of people trapped.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that a Russian warship in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles toward Daesh group targets in Deir ez-Zor province.

A Russian frigate in the Mediterranean Sea fired the missiles early Tuesday on Daesh targets near the city. The defense ministry said it targeted a fortified area around the town of al-Shola.

The ministry said its drone footage showed that the missile strikes there destroyed a communications center, command centers, ammunition depots, a repair shop for armored vehicles.

Tuesday’s breakthrough came after Syrian Army forces dismantled mines around a besieged air base known as Brigade 137.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

Syrian Army Breaks ISIS-Imposed Deir Ezzor Siege

Tuesday, 05 September 2017 11:22

DEIR EZZOR-The Syrian Arab army managed on Tuesday to break the siege which has been imposed on the city of Deir Ezzor by the ISIS terrorist organization for three years.

According to the Syrian Presidency, the Syrian Arab Army and Allied Forces break the siege imposed on Deir Azzour by ISIS for more than 3 years. Syrian Army and Allied Forces meet with the steadfast heroes of the Republican Guards and the 17^thBrigade, who stood firm defending the city against terrorists.

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“You have proved through your steadfastness in the face of the terrorist organizations that you are up to the responsibility and the trust entrusted to you as the best example for coming generations; history to register that you, though of your small number, have spared the most dear and valuable you possess as to safeguard the trust and defend the unarmed citizens and YOU have indeed been able to fulfil your tasks in the best form and registered, with no fear or hesitation, sequence of heroism deeds.” Said H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad, the General Commander of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces.

In a phone call with Army Commanders, Officers and Soldiers of Deir Azzur City, President Assad added that history would record that some of you have been martyred, or wounded, bandage his wounds in a primitive way and continued the battle; these sacred and pure blood yielded this glittering victory against the terrorist takfiri thinking, backed regionally and internationally. You today stand shoulder to shoulder with your comrades in arms who waged the fiercest battles as to break the siege imposed on the city and as to stand with you in the frontline to cleanse the whole region from terrorism, restore security and safety to all of Syria till the last span of its territory.” Underscored President Assad.

According to a statement by the General Command of the Syrian Arb Army and Armed Forces, the siege was broken as a great accomplishment and turning point in the war against terrorism and as a base for expanding war against terrorism and division schemes, lauding the role of the Army and its allies, the role of the Syrian and Russian Air Forces, and the steadfastness of the Syrians in Deir Azzur pledging continued war against terrorism

According to SANA reporter in Deir Ezzor, units of the Syrian Arab army advancing from the western side of Deir Ezzor met today with the army personnel from regiment 137, that has been safeguarding the city, and managed to break the siege that has been imposed by ISIS for more than three years.

By lifting the siege, hundreds of thousands of civilians in Deir Ezzor city can finally start receiving food and medicine from highways rather than risky air drops that would occasionally fall into ISIS-held areas.

The reporter said earlier that Army units carried out new military operations under an intensive air cover to break the siege imposed by the ISIS terrorists on Deir Ezzor city .

According to SANA, the army units positioned in al-Sanouf Hill opened a 700m-long gab in the areas between the Hill and the areas where the terrorists are positioned towards the gas factory at a time when the Army units advanced to an area very close to the Hill.

The reporter added that the Syrian Air Force destroyed a convoy embracing 10 of the ISIS vehicles in the southwestern direction of Deir Ezzor city, in addition to destroying an ammunition depot in al-Bghiliyeh village in the western countryside of the Province.

The Syrian Air Force also destroyed ISIs vehicles and fortifications in al-Malha, al-Bghiliyeh, in the surroundings of al-Jazira University, al-Taim Oil Field, al-Shola and in the surroundings of Regiment 137, killing or injuring a number of terrorists.

The reporter added that the Army units engaged in a fierce clash with ISIS terrorists on the Regiment 137 and Kabajeb axes in the southwestern countryside of the Province, asserting that large numbers of ISIS terrorists escaped, leaving their weapons, ammunition and the bodies of their dead terrorists behind.

The Army units are still advancing of the Regiment 137 axis to the west of Deir Ezzor city, and the army units destroyed a number of cars rigged with explosives belonging to ISIS terrorists, according to the reporter.

On Monday, Governor Mohammad Ibrahim of Deir Ezzor said that the city witnessed on Sunday evening celebrations and jubilation over the advance of the Syrian Army towards the outskirts of the besieged city.

“The residents of the war-torn city have endured the lack of food and the daily terrorist attacks with mortar shells, not to mention the sacrifices of the martyrs from the city who died defending the homeland,” he added.

MT/ MA/HM

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