Syrian troops intensify attacks on Aleppo’s eastern countryside

ISIS controlled the power station, West Deir Al Zour military airport, after clashes with the governmental troops and their loyal militias, to achieve notable progress in the surrounding area of the military airport currently besieged by the extremist group.

The attack is the most violent one from the group since December, when the extremist group controlled large swath of its territories and killed over 150 elements of the governmental troops and their other loyal militias. They also kidnapped over 400 persons from the families of the forces loyal to Assad regime.

The death toll in the city and its surrounding areas witnessed notable increase reaching to 158, including a large number of women and children, while the columns of smoke are rising , as the elements of the extremist group set the fire on tires and oil barrels in the city squares in a bid to challenge the military aircrafts targeting their strangleholds.

According to a number of analysts, the extremist group rallied its forces, supporters and weapons from Deir Al Zour and Western countryside adjacent to the city days before the attack. They then expected that the group was preparing for a major operation against the areas controlled by the government in the city.

ISIS was able to surround the Assad's forces controlled Deir al-Zour military airport after an attack from several directions on Monday. Media sources said that the organization tightened its grip on Algarya residential project and strategic points west of the city which resulted in the separation of the western regions of the Assad regime from the eastern neighborhoods and isolated the airport completely.

The organization had controlled before hours the battalion of engineers and insurance battalion and brick and block coefficient and parts of the workers' neighborhood amid clear decline of Assad forces in the region.

Violent clashes took place in the center of Talet Al-Ruwad and the area around the Panorama checkpoint, Altharda Mountain in addition to clashes in most of al-Assad held areas, most important al-Sinaa and Al-Mowazafin neighborhoods.

More than 11 civilians were killed in different areas in Deir al-Zour province, following air and artillery bombardment of Assad's forces, mostly focused in the neighborhoods of Hamidiya and Al-Ardy and al-Muhassan village.

The city of Deir Ezzor (Deir ez-Zur) in east-Syria is on the verge of falling into the hands of the Takfiris of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). More than 100,000 civilian inhabitants of Deir Ezzor and thousands of soldiers defending them are in immediate danger of being murdered by the savage ISIS forces. The current situation is a direct consequence of U.S. military action against the SAA and non-action against ISIS.

Deir Ezzor is besieged by ISIS since September 2015. But the city was well defended by its garrison of Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and all further attacks by ISIS were repelled. Supply to the city was hauled in by air through the Deir Ezzor airport and through air drops by the Syrian and Russian airforces. Relief by ground forces and ground supplies are not possible as Deir Ezzor is more than 100 km away from the nearest SAA positions west of Palmyra and as the desert in between is under the control of ISIS.

Four days ago a new attack by ISIS on Deir Ezzor was launched and has since continued. ISIS reinforcements and resupplies had come over months despite air interdiction from the Russian and Syrian airforces. Yesterday ISIS managed to cut off the airport, where the local SAA command and its main supplies are hosted, from the city proper. It is now attacking in full force from all sides. Bad weather makes air support from the outside sporadic and difficult. Unless some unforeseen happens it is only a question of time until the airport and the city fall to ISIS.

The governmental forces, on its hand, resume bombing the areas controlled by the extremist group using missiles and shells in Aleppo’s eastern countryside in coincidence with the violent clashes in the ground between the governmental forces and militias.

In the same context, the governmental troops resumed their attacks, in cooperation with Hezbollah, against the besieged areas in Madaya, increasing the number of injured people to 10. The city witnessed increasing attacks from the governmental forces. It also suffers from a siege imposed by the government, leading to the migration of over 20 thousand of its population.