Forces advance to free Deir El Zour
beirut — US-backed militias and the Syrian army advanced in separate offensives against the Daesh group in eastern Syria on Saturday, piling pressure on shrinking territory the group still holds in oil-rich areas near the Iraqi border.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of mostly Arab and Kurdish fighters, launched a new operation against the militants in the north of Deir El Zour province that aims to capture areas north and east of the Euphrates river.
The advances against the Daesh group in territory it has held for years as part of its self-declared caliphate will likely bring US-backed forces and the Syrian government side into closer proximity.
A US warplane shot down a Syrian army jet near Raqqa in June and the SDF accused the Syrian government of bombing its positions, showing the risk of escalation between warring sides in a crowded battlefield.
The Syrian conflict, which started as a popular uprising against President Bashar Al Assad in 2011, has drawn the military involvement of most world powers. Peace talks have repeatedly failed to bring an end to the war.
The SDF operation in Deir El Zour province aims to capture areas in its northern and eastern countryside and advance towards the Euphrates, the Deir El Zour Military Council, which is fighting as part of the SDF, said in a statement.
“The first step is to free the eastern bank of the Euphrates and the
the first step is to free the eastern bank of the euphrates. We’re not specifying a timeframe but we hope it will be a quick operation.”
Ahmed Abu Kholeh, head of the military council
SdF forces advanced against the daesh in deir el Zour’s northwestern countryside, seizing several hilltops and a village.”
Syrian observatory group
areas the Daesh group still holds,” Ahmed Abu Kholeh, head of the military council, told reporters after the announcement.
“We’re not specifying a timeframe but we hope it will be a quick operation,” he said.
Abu Kholeh would not say whether there were plans to advance on Deir El Zour city itself. “We don’t know how the battles will go after this,” he said.
He said SDF fighters did not expect clashes with Syrian government forces as they advance, but if fired upon “we will respond”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported SDF forces had advanced against the Daesh group in Deir El Zour’s northwestern countryside, seizing several hill- tops and a village. Syrian government forces and their allies meanwhile recaptured from militants the Teym oilfield southwest of Deir El Zour city, on the other side of the Euphrates, state TV reported.
They also seized part of a main highway running from Deir El Zour downstream to the city of Al Mayadeen, to which many Daesh militants have retreated, the Britishbased Observatory said.
That advance would help block potential Daesh reinforcements from Al Mayadeen, it said.
The Syrian army this week advanced quickly, backed by Russian air strikes, to reach a governmentheld enclave of Deir El Zour that was besieged for years by the Daesh. Government forces are still fighting to reach a nearby air base, which the militants still surround.
The Daesh fighters in Syria still holds much of Deir El Zour province and half the city, as well as a pocket of territory further west near Homs and Hama.
But the group has lost most of its self-declared area which from 2014 stretched across swathes of Syria and Iraq, including oil-rich Deir El Zour.
The SDF is still battling to eject the militants from the remaining areas they hold in Raqqa, once their Syria stronghold.
Talks between Russia, Iran and opposition backer Turkey in Astana are to take place next week, possibly followed by a separate track at the United Nations in Geneva in October or November. —