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.
An under-reported fact about the Syrian war is that away from the major battles underway against ISIS in Al-Bab, Palmyra and Deir Ezzor, the fiercest fighting in Syria over the last two weeks has been in Jihadi controlled Idlib where Al-Qaeda has effectively declared war on Jihadi groups that are participating in the Russian-Turkish brokered ceasefire and in the Astana peace process.
The Turkish journalist Fehim Taştekin has provided Al Monitor with a highly interesting follow up to his previous report on the situation Aleppo, which cast doubt on some of the claims the Western media made during the fighting there.
A report from the Russian Defence Ministry yesterday 23rd January 2017 caused a minor flap when it said that Russian aircraft had bombed ISIS position near Al-Bab on the basis of coordinates provided by the US military.
This caused some excitement, with some seeing this report as the first sign that under the new Trump administration US policy in Syria is at last changing, and that the US and Russia are finally working together to fight ISIS.
The peace conference, which is supposed to agree a settlement of the Syrian conflict, began today Monday in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
The conference began with the usual frosty exchanges between the representatives of the Syrian government and of the Jihadi groups who have been invited to attend the conference, and who have agreed to do so. Each side – equally predictably – has also refused to meet and engage with the other in direct talks.
The single fact which make the latest offensive by ISIS eastern Syria so frightening and serious is that the way for it was paved by the US-led “anti-ISIS” coalition.
Before discussing this, let me repeat a point I made for The Duran previously, the truth of which as a Syrian in Syria who is an actual witness of this war I can personally vouch for
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.
Back on 15th January 2017 I wrote a piece for The Duran in which I contrasted the detailed on the spot reporting of Turkish journalist Fehim Taştekin in eastern Aleppo with the failure of western journalists to visit or report from Aleppo notwithstanding that following the end of the fighting there the city is finally safe for journalists to visit.
When I wrote that piece I was unaware that the BBC’s Jeremy Bowen was actually in Aleppo as I was writing it.
As delegations – including one from Turkey – gather in Astana to discuss a peace settlement of Syria’s ongoing conflict, comes bitter news which may in part explain Turkey’s change of positions in seeking a peaceful settlement of the Syrian war.
