Syrian forces break years-long Deir Ezzor siege
Syrian troops broke ISIL’s siege of Deir Ezzor military airport on Saturday, dealing a blow to the extremists who also face a new offensive from US-backed fighters elsewhere in the province.
Oil-rich Deir Ezzor province borders Iraq and is a strategic prize for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and Russian-supported government troops.
Since 2014, ISIL has held parts of the province and about 60 per cent of its provincial capital, encircling two regime-held enclaves in the western half of Deir Ezzor city.
Government troops broke the siege of one of the pockets on Tuesday and began a new assault on ISIL positions around the strategic airbase on Friday.
On Saturday, the troops ended ISIL’s encirclement of the airport, officials said, “after forces advancing from the cemetery south-west of the city linked up with the forces holding the airbase”.
The unidentified head of the airbase said ISIL had attacked the airport for years.
“We will continue fighting until we recapture all of Deir Ezzor city,” he said.
Russia, a key Syrian government ally, said its warplanes had provided cover to the Syrian ground forces, carrying out “massive air strikes” that helped the troops break the airport siege.
“Syrian government forces, with Russian air support inflicted a crushing defeat on ISIL around Deir Ezzor surpassing the other victories achieved in the past three years,” the ministry said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the advance let Syrian troops “link up all the neighbourhoods they hold in western parts of Deir Ezzor city”.
The government’s progress in Deir Ezzor came as ISIL faced growing pressure in Syria and Iraq, where it has suffered a string of defeats.
The extremists have lost Iraq’s second city, Mosul, and more than half of their de facto Syrian capital, Raqqa. Deir Ezzor province is the last one in Syria still largely under jihadist control.
On Saturday, the SDF said it had begun clearing ISIL from areas east of the Euphrates River, which cuts across Deir Ezzor province, slicing it in two.
Ahmad Abu Khawlah, who heads the SDF’s Deir Ezzor military council, said “pivoting towards Deir Ezzor was inevitable”. He said US-led coalition air strikes had already helped his forces to advance “about 30 kilometres” in the first day of “Operation Jazira Storm”.
The commander of the US-led coalition, Lt Gen Paul Funk, welcomed the start of the SDF operation.
“The very existence of ISIL poses a real threat to the civilised world and our way of life,” Gen Funk said. “Our collective effort will defeat them.”