73 die in clashes with Daesh in Deir Al Zor

Heavy clashes between Syria’s army and Daesh in Deir Al Zor city have killed at least 73 fighters in the last 24 hours, a monitor said yesterday.

Syria’s army controls most of Deir Al Zor city, capital of Deir Al Zor province in the country’s east, and made further advances after responding to a Daesh attack that began Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The monitor said the fierce fighting Saturday killed at least 50 Daesh fighters, as well as 23 Syrian soldiers and pro-regime militiamen.

Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said government forces had captured two new neighbourhoods and the municipal stadium.

“Daesh is now encircled in an area between the city and the (Euphrates) river,” Abdul Rahman said.

Daesh once held large sections of Deir Al Zor city, and for nearly three years laid siege to other parts of it that remained under government control.

Broke the siege

In early September, advancing government forces broke the siege, and they have been working since to expel the terrorists from the rest of the city.

Abdul Rahman said the fighting that began Saturday was the fiercest in the city since government troops broke the siege, adding that clashes were continuing yesterday, with regime ally Russia carrying out heavy air strikes in support of the army and allied fighters.

Deir Al Zor, an oil-rich province that borders Iraq, was once a stronghold of Daesh, but the terrorist group faces twin assaults there, from the regime and the US-backed KurdishArab Syrian Democratic Forces.

The terrorists have already been expelled from neighbouring Raqqa province, and are now confined to just a few pockets of territory in Deir Al Zor.

More than 470,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests.