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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian army breaks ISIL siege in Deir Az Zor airbase |
| 2017-09-10 |
| [Al Jazeera] The Syrian army and allied forces have broken ISIS's siege on Deir Az Zor military airport, state media said on Saturday, hours after US-backed fighters announced a separate push against the gang in the oil-rich eastern province. State news agency SANA said the breach came "after the forces advancing from the cemetery southwest of the city linked up with the forces holding the air base". The latest advance of the Russia-backed forces came days after they ended another siege on residential districts of the city as they seek to oust ISIS from its last major stronghold in Syria. Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said they had also launched an anti-ISIS offensive from the north of Deir Az Zor city, aiming to clear the group from territory east of the Euphrates River. The operation brought them into a race with the government forces marching in the same direction. Ahmad Abu Khawlah, head of SDF's Deir Az Zor Military Council, said his forces had begun fighting to push ISIS out of remaining territory in Hasakeh province and further south in Deir Az Zor in eastern Syria. The announcement came as Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power and Hezbollah fighters, closed in from the south of Deir Az Zor city in a separate military campaign against ISIS. The dueling battles for Deir Az Zor highlight the importance of the key eastern province, which has become the latest epicentre of the international war against ISIS, raising concerns of an eventual clash between the two sides. Al Jazeera's Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Beirut, the capital of neighbouring Syria, described the double offensive as "a race against the clock to see which of these two competing forces can have dominance in this oil-rich area". He added: "Whoever is going to get more of this province is going to control more of the oil, and this really sets up what has been a regional rivalry to see who can take over more territory in Syria since the beginning of this war." |
| Posted by:Fred |