Deir Ezzor

Following intense Russian bombing reports are trickling in that the Syrian army is on the verge of breaking ISIS’s siege of Deir Ezzor airport, and has recaptured several critical gas fields west of Palmyra.

The extent of Russia’s determination to prevent ISIS from overrunning the Syrian army’s defences in the besieged eastern desert town of Deir Ezzor is becoming increasingly clear.

Reports from Deir Ezzor are sketchy, and it is clear that the crisis there is far from over.  However over the last few days there have been mounting indications that the worst of the crisis may be over, with the Syrian army apparently succeeding in seizing local hilltop positions and strongpoints from ISIS, as it seeks to break ISIS’s siege of Deir Ezzor’s vital airport.

As the military crisis in the desert city of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria continues, there are reports that 6 Russian TU22M3 medium bombers have again been in action against ISIS positions there.
The air strike comes two days after an earlier strike by the same group of 6 TU22M3 medium bombers.

With the position of the Syrian forces besieged in the desert town of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria remaining extremely precarious – latest reports suggest they were forced to surrender hard-won gains they made there against ISIS yesterday – the Russians have brought the full weight of their air force to bear, striking at ISIS positions near Deir Ezzor with 6 TU22M3 bombers.

With Palmyra still under ISIS control, and with ISIS threatening to capture Deir Ezzor, the Russian military has once against blamed the military crisis in eastern Syria on the US.
The Russian military first did so in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Palmyra in December when it complained – rightly – that the reason ISIS was able to send troops to Palmyra from Mosul and Raqqa was because ISIS is under no real pressure there.

As the military crisis in Deir Ezzor continues, the Syrian army has rushed reinforcements to the besieged desert city by helicopter, and has sent one of its toughest and most capable commanders there.
This is General Mohammad Khaddour, who previously commanded the garrison at Deir Ezzor until he was reassigned elsewhere from there a year ago.

May 23, 2016, SANA:
A source at Lattakia Police Command said that 45 people were killed and others, mostly women and children, were injured, in the terrorist attacks hit Jableh city.

ISIS commits massacre in village in Deir Ezzor, claiming the lives of nearly 300 civilians

 
(SANA) ~ Daesh (the so called ISIS, ISIL) mercenary-terrorists committed a massacre in al-Bghailiye village (in Deir Ezzor’s western countryside), claiming the lives of around 300 civilians, most of them women, children, and elderly people, local sources said to SANA reporters.