Aid drops suspended as fighting in Deir Ezzor city enters fourth day

Syrian and Russian forces combat ISIL’s ‘most violent’ raid

BEIRUT // Syrian government forces yesterday clashed with ISIL fighters for the fourth day in a row in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, a monitor said. The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended aid drops to the besieged Syrian city because of the heavy fighting.

ISIL has besieged Deir Ezzor’s 100,000 residents since 2015 and already controls large parts of the city.

Last Saturday, however, the militants advanced further into the remaining government-held territory and managed to divide the city’s eastern half from the west.

ISIL has also cut the supply route from the city’s key military airport, limiting the government’s ability to bring in supplies and military reinforcements.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three days of fighting had killed at least 116 people, including 21 civilians, 37 members of the regime forces and 58 ISIL fighters.

“We have put on hold the air drop operation in Deir Ezzor for security operational reasons,” said the WFP.

“There is heavy fighting ongoing in and around the landing zone. It is simply too dangerous to do this now.” The WFP has been dropping humanitarian aid into Deir Ezzor since last April, and the government-held area is the only place in Syria where it has permission for the aid drops.

The WFP said its last aid drop was on Sunday, adding that 3,300 tonnes of food and other aid had been sent to the city since the operation began.

The Observatory yesterday said that Syria’s military and allied Russian forces were carrying out air strikes against ISIL, as government troops fought the extremists on the ground.

The latest assault, which included waves of suicide bombers, is the “most violent” attack on the city in more than a year, according to the Observatory.

It said the government was sending reinforcements into the military base and had called local residents to fight on the front lines against ISIL, including some without military training.

Since the siege began, the government has been able to fly limited supplies into the air- port, and international aid has been intermittently dropped into the city.

But residents have nonetheless faced shortages of daily necessities and rising prices, as well as being unable to leave the city.

Deir Ezzor is located in the oil-rich eastern province of the same name, most of which is controlled by ISIL.

The extremist group has lost areas of territory in northern Syria to Kurdish fighters and a Turkish-backed rebel alliance, but it remains on the offensive in other parts of the country. More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests that were met with a crackdown by the regime.