Syrian Army, Popular Fighters Drive ISIL out of Large Region in Western Deir Ezzur

The army, backed up by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Liwa Al-Quds (Palestinian paramilitary), began the operation by pushing ISIL back from areas West of the strategic town of Al-Mayadeen in Central Deir Ezzur.

The Syrian Army and their allies would swiftly advance through the vast Syrian Desert, pushing the ISIL as far as 50 km away from Al-Mayadeen.

According to a military source in Homs, the Syrian Army’s 5th Legion and their allies managed to liberate several points in Western Deir Ezzur, including the town of Faydat Umm Muwaynah in the Syrian Desert.

This latest advance by the Syrian Army comes just days after the ISIL was reportedly preparing to launch an offensive to break out of this region and enter the Euphrates River Valley.

Well-informed sources said on Sunday that the ISIL terrorist group was preparing to launch a fresh round of attacks on the Syrian Army positions in Deir Ezzur province to slow down the government forces’ advances against their comrades in Hajar al-Aswad region in the Southern part of Damascus province.

The sources said that ISIL recently gathered a large number of gunmen in the Western part of the Western Badiyeh (desert) in Eastern Deir Ezzur to launch an imminent attack on the army positions to decrease the army units’ military pressure on the ISIL terrorists in Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk Camp in the Southern part of Damascus province.

The sources further pointed to the recent reports on the resumption of ISIL military activities in Deir Ezzur with the US’ green light.

In the meantime, the Russia-run Humeimim airbase in Western Syria said strange moves were being made in Southern Syria, mainly in the US-run al-Tanf region and other regions that are under the US control, adding that the US forces were training terrorists to prepare them for destructive operations.