(Zaman Al Wasl)- Islamic State forces launched major attack against regime forces and its mercenaries’ locations in Deir Ez Zor with the hope of expelling the regime forces and gaining sole control of the province. The regime officers and soldiers in Deir Ez Zor, especially those in the besieged military airbase, experience difficult moments as they are injured or many have been killed at a time the military command is asking them to remain steadfast.
News from the fronts in the city report that the Islamic State forces continue to have the upper hand in the fighting and they continue to advance. The military airbase which is considered the regime’s fortified stronghold in the province is now besieged from all sides and almost completely isolated.
Pro-Islamic State social media groups published news of the airbase siege and images of the killed regime fighters. These images spread terror among regime supporters as a reminder of the images of the 17th Division and al-Tabqah airport. Pro-regime supporters fear that a similar incident will be repeated in Deir Ez Zor which the Islamic State refer to as the “Province of Good.”
There is unverified news that the regime and the “Hezbollah” militia sent reinforcements to support the regime forces in Deir Ez Zor to prevent the Islamic State from taking control of the military airbase there.
The regime forces in the area include mercenaries recruited from Deir Ez Zor known as the “Tribal fighters- The Eastern Lions.” Pro-Islamic State groups on social media posted some of these mercenaries’ identification cards. The cards show that the regime is recruiting minors into its auxiliary forces. One of the fighters’ cards states that he was born in 2000, so he is barely 17, and he was 15 or 16 when the regime recruited him into the mercenary forces.
As additional evidence of the escalation and increasing danger of the fighting in the city, the United Nations World Food Program announced it suspended its humanitarian aid drops in the areas above Deir Ez Zor.
Bettina Luescher, the Program’s spokesperson, said, “There is fierce fighting in the areas where we drop the aid and the areas around it, and in parts of the city where the food products are distributed… The World Food Program’s partners on the ground cannot endanger the lives of the 60 volunteers who receive the supplies at the drop off point and distribute the aid.”
In April 2016, the Program began operations dropping aid over Deir Ez Zor.
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