Syrian army, allies thrust east to break siege in Deir al-Zor city

The Syrian President Assad’s forces set to break three-year IS siege, the Army and allies thrust east to break a siege of Deir al-Zor city, Reuters reported.

In August, the Syrian army and allied militias have surged across the eastern desert into the Euphrates river valley to relieve Deir al-Zor, where 100,000 residents have been holding out for more than three years. In January, a surge by IS cut the besieged city in two, dividing the area where most residents live from the airport.

The advance on the eastern city marks another stinging setback for the once-triumphant IS, fast retreating in both Iraq and Syria as its self-declared caliphate crumbles. After its peak situation in 2014, when IS which ruled over millions of people in both Iraq and Syria, the current status of caliphate offers no perspectives.

The recent success of the Syrian Army and its allies allowed to free Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa but the jihadists have still been able to launch attacks in the West and maintain a threat in other centres such as Libya.

The city Deir al-Zor has been cut off since 2013 after rebel groups rose up against Assad during the first flush of Syria’s six-year war.