Translation by Dani Murad
Deep concerns and fear arise among activists as Deir al-Zour, Syria’s second major city after Raqqa, might also fall as a prey in the hands of The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ‘Dubbed: Daesh’
In a surprising move, ISIS has totally dominated the northern city of Mosul in Iraq; mobilizing thousands of fighters toward the city of Deir al-Zour, at a time where it is already dominates large parts of the city’s western suburbs.
Deir al-Zour, in addition to al-Hasakah city, are the top oil-producing provinces in the country, in addition to being important agriculture resources, and today they are subjected to ISIS’s most severe attack, which is determined to take control over large parts of Al Jazeera, having practically removed the border between Iraq and Syria in Nineveh.
In this context, EQTSAD made an interview with activist, Mohammed Al Khalif, a reporter for Al Cham network in Deir ez Zour, to get the details of what is happening there in terms of military, living circumstances and relief levels.
Military wise, Daesh has begun its battles against FSA factions in Deir al-Zour 4 months ago, opening three fronts, one in the West - Raqqa, another in the north – al-Hasakah, and a third in the south - the desert, not to mention regime’s front in the city of Deir al-Zour.
The Syrian regime controls two neighborhoods inside the city of Deir al-Zour, Al Jura and Al Qusor, while rebels control 7 districts , and the remained 5 neighborhoods are under continuous struggle between the two , however Deir al-Zour’s suburbs have no presence of regime’ forces at all.
Within the last month, ISIS has intensified its assaults on Deir al-Zour, increasing the ferocity of its battles with FSA factions, and depending on its most intense reinforcements that come from the west of Raqqa, which is ISIL’s main stronghold on the Syrian soil.
According to the activist, Most of ISIS’s fighters are mainly from Caucasus (especially Chechnya), and the Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria), with a good number from the Arabian Peninsula (Gulf, Saudi Arabia), meaning that the majority of its fighters are "immigrants" (non-Syrian).
Since 5 months, Daesh has prevented any entry of military, medical, or relief supplies that used to come from Turkey via Aleppo and Tal Abyad’s crossings, confiscating ammunitions that were heading to FSA rebels, in coordination with the military council of Deir al-Zour. He added
As a result of the foregoing, the living conditions in the governorate have severely deteriorated, especially in the city of Deir al-Zour, and prices rose up to 4-5 times.
During the last month, and coming from Raqqa , Daesh has made a significant progress in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor, seizing control of Al Jazeera part (areas located on the right bank of the Euphrates River) from the western countryside, while the remaining area ( Al Shamia) (the left bank of the river) remained in rebels’ grip.
Within 15 days, ISIL has consecutively seized 10 villages in (Al Jazeera area) the western suburbs of the governorate, all the way to Deir ez-Zor’s “suspension bridge”, the only entrance controlled by rebels that connects the city with its suburbs, while the rest of the city’s entrances still in regime’s grip, making the rebels between the hammer “regime” and the anvil “Daesh”.
After seizing the “Suspension Bridge”, ISIL prevented the entry of any relief or medical supplies, imposing a severe siege on the city that lasted for eight days on the row, and even forbidden the movement of ambulances to transport injured.
Al Khlif clarified that within the last days, the regime has lunched 8 airstrikes on the city, wounding many people, some of them with critical conditions that required to be taken to the suburbs’ hospitals, because field hospitals in the rural areas are capable of addressing the emergency cases and health needs more than those remaining inside the city, but ISIL fired on the ambulance cars forcing them to return to the city.
Al Khalif confirmed that Deir al-Zour’s electricity and water have been cut off, and most of its shops are closed due to the lack of food supplies, and what have been of food left is very limited, as well as medicines which also ran out and some city’s hospitals lacked first aid.
Pro-regime media has claimed that electricity was back in the city of Deir al-Zour after an outage for three days, since Deir al-Zour’s gas factory was out of service due to mortar’s damages since last Saturday night.
Syrian state news agency “SANA “ have reported from a source in the city that, the factory’s workshops have repaired the damages and re-pumped Gas to two generating stations in “Al Omar” in Deir al-Zour suburbs and “Jandal” in Homs , causing the return of the power supply to the city .
According to Al Khalif, after 8 days of suffocating siege, the situation in Deir al-Zour has become more tragic than the countryside, and the city’s activists have launched a campaign called "Deir al-Zour SOS", but haven’t received the required response, noting that they only requested to neutralize civilians and the city’s center from the ongoing clashes, yet not the slightest response came from the ISIL or the regime.
However, the countryside is not in a much better situation than the city, and in the last 3 months , activists have documented at least 700 martyrs in battles with ISIS, not to mention the 140 thousand people displaced due to the continues fighting, who are originally city’s displaced that again had to flee again to safer areas. He added.
The activist also spoke about the significant damage caused to buildings and homes as a result of the fierce battles with the state, not to mention the fire that ate crops and burned thousands of acres, causing many farmers to lose their harvest of this year.
The battles are intensifying now in the northern and eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour, as "Daesh" mobilizes a lot of fighters that came from Mosul, Iraq and gathered in “Shaddadi” area, which is (Daesh’s headquarter in al-Hasakah), and incoming information indicated that their intention is to control the northern rural province , and then the city of Deir al-Zour.
Khalif also pointed out to the fact that some residents in Deir al-Zour following the siege of eight days, began to resort to smuggling relief materials through boats at night in the Euphrates, despite the seriousness of these attempts and the danger of exposing themselves to ISIL’s fire
In addition to that, activist Mohammed Khalif provided “Iqtisad” " with ISIL’s detailed territorial claim of Deir al-Zour , as follows:
1 – ISIS has no presence at all inside the city.
2- They have presence in the Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern suburbs of Deir ez Zour.
3- In the western suburb of Deir al-Zour “an island” (from the village of Albohameed to Husseiniya).
4- In the western suburb of Deir al-Zour “ Shamia” (from the village Ma'daan to Al Tabni).
5- Eastern countryside “an island” (from the village of Hatlah to Al Basira village).
6- In the northern countryside, the western side of Khabur river - (from the village of Saada to Sabha).
7- In the northern countryside - eastern side of the river Khabur - (from the village of Sheikh Hamad down to Namliah).
8- In the southern countryside that has ( Al Shoula and Kabbajb towns) , located on the international road of Deir al-Zour - Damascus.
3 - In addition to the presence of some "Daesh” groups in Al Kom station, located in the oil desert of Bu Kamal (T2) second station.
After seizing much of Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, with little resistance from the Iraqi army, The Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIl) controlled the entire province of Nineveh, and eliminated the border between Iraq and Syria in Al-Yarbia crossing, and finally encircled the city of Deir al-Zour, leaving no entrance for people to flee.
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