The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will soon launch an offensive to oust ISIS from Deir al-Zor province, an official from the alliance said Friday, as the terrorist group successfully pushed back regime forces advancing on one of the last towns still in the organizaton’s hands in Raqqa province.
Ahmed Abu Khawla, head of the Deir al-Zor military council which fights under the SDF, told Reuters that the assault might begin “within several weeks” in parallel with the battle for Raqqa city. The SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has been battling inside the historic Old City of Raqqa, ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria.
Spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, the SDF began its assault in June, after months of fighting to encircle Raqqa with air strikes and special forces from the US-led coalition. As ISIS has come under pressure in Raqqa, many of its forces have fallen back on the towns and cities further east
along the Euphrates in Deir al-Zor province.
“The operation to liberate Deir al-Zor will begin very, very soon,” Khawla said, adding that his unit had already “entered Deir al-Zor territory and liberated several towns” there. Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, said its focus remained on Raqqa.
Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS militants killed a number of regime troops and seized their vehicles as they advanced on the town of Maadan. The Observatory said at least 34 Syrian soldiers and 12 militants were killed. Maadan lies along the southern banks of the Euphrates River and is 60 kilometers east of the city of Raqqa.
Syrian forces are advancing along the south and west bank of the Euphrates towards where the city of Deir al-Zor is located, while the SDF is mostly on the north and east bank, where Raqqa is located.
In the same context, Twenty members of the Syrian army forces were killed, on Wednesday, in an attack launched by the Islamic State militants on the Syrian Badiyah, Qasioun News reported on Thursday.
The Islamic State-owned “Amaq” news agency stated that the group’s militants launched an attack on the Syrian Army headquarters in Wadi al-Wa’er area in the syrian Badiyah, killing 20 members and wounding dozens others, as well as destroying three military vehicles and two SVUs.
It is noteworthy that the government forces and allied militias recaptured, at dawn today, the areas of Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, Rajm al-Hajana, Jabal al-Hajana and Wadi al-Ha’er in the eastern countryside of Homs.
The international coalition warplanes carried out, on Wednesday, several air strikes on the city of Raqqa.
Qasioun News reported that the US-led international coalition carried many air strikes, this morning, on al-Thakna neighborhood, west of the city, while the Syrian Democratic Forces shelled, using heavy artillery, the neighborhood, but no casualties were reported.
The attack took place after the Syrian Democratic Forces militia managed to capture al-Rasheed neighborhood in the old city completely, following a violent clashes with the Islamic State militants.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian Democratic Forces made a significant achievement recently against the Islamic State group, and managed to capture 60% of the city.