Syrian government forces have driven Islamic State fighters out of their last major stronghold in the country with the help of Russian missile strikes.
Bashar al-Assad’s troops today reached the eastern city of Deir al-Zour which was surrounded by ISIS forces for almost three years.
They were supported by a Russian warship in the Mediterranean which fired cruise missiles on a fortified area around the town of el-Shola.
Fire: Assad’s troops were supported by a Russian warship in the Mediterranean which fired cruise missiles on a fortified area around the town of el-Shola
Russian frigate Admiral Essen in the Mediterranean Sea firing a Kalibr cruise missile at ISIS targets
After the break-through Syrian state media triumphantly declared: ‘The Syrian army and its allies break the siege on Deir al-Zor.’ Pictured: Russian cruise missiles are launched
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said missile strikes destroyed a communications center, command centers, ammunition depots, and repair shop for armored vehicles
The city of Deir al-Zor is largely ruined after the seige by ISIS which lasted for three years
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said missile strikes destroyed a communications center, command centers, ammunition depots, and repair shop for armored vehicles.
After the break-through Syrian state media triumphantly declared: ‘The Syrian army and its allies break the siege on Deir al-Zour.’
It said that the advancing forces had linked up with the besieged troops at a garrison on the western edge of the city.
Some 93,000 residents inside the city were said to be celebrating the army’s advance after enduring conditions described by the UN as ‘extremely difficult’.
Islamic State still controls much of Deir al-Zour province, including half the city.
An image released by Russia’s Defence Ministry shows a missile hitting ‘an Islamic State target’ in Deir al-Zour
Fiery footage purports to show Russian missiles hitting IS targets in the Syrian province
Assad’s forces: Syrian soldiers in the eastern city ofDeir al-Zor which was surrounded by ISIS troops
Assad’s men standing on pickup trucks with heavy machine-guns mounted before battle
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said a nearby military air base in the south of the city and three adjacent neighbourhoods were still under siege by the jihadists.
Deir al-Zor provincial governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said government troops were pushing towards the air base.
‘Forces are trying to break the siege on the military airport as well,’ he said.
‘The coming days will also see the clearing of the city of Deir al-Zour of militants and the start of advances on nearby countryside held by Islamic State’, he added.
The army and its allies had made rapid advances in recent days and pushed through Islamic State lines with the help of heavy artillery and Russian air strikes.
The city has been cut off from government areas since 2013 after rebel groups rose up against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Islamic State then overran rebel positions and encircled the government enclave and the nearby air base in the city in 2014.
During the long siege, high-altitude air drops supplied the city.
Deir al-Zour is southeast of Islamic State’s former base of operations in Raqqa city, most of which has been captured in a separate offensive by US-backed Syrian militias.
Islamic State fighters are believed to have fled to towns around Deir al-Zour as they came under attack in Raqqa.
The latest developments mark a strategic and symbolic defeat for IS, which last month lost its hold over Iraq’s second largest city Mosul and is under attack by US-backed Syrian forces in its self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, northwest of Deir al-Zour.