DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a telephone conversation with Deir ez-Zor defense commanders, congratulated the city's defenders on the lifting of a three-year blockade organized by the Daesh terrorist group, the Syrian presidential press service said in a statement Tuesday.

"It will be recorded in history how you, despite your small number, sacrificed the most valuable for the sake of civilians… Today, you and your friends fought shoulder to shoulder to lift the siege of the city," the statement quoted Assad as saying.

Earlier in the day the three-year siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor has been broken due to the Syrian government forces' operation.

Deir ez-Zor, located on the shores of the Euphrates River to the northeast of Damascus, and a militaryairfield near the city have been besieged by Daesh for over three years, with food and ammunition only being delivered by air, while helicopters from the city of Qamishli have been evacuating the wounded and delivering essential supplies to the city's population.

The Syrian army supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces has been advancing toward Deir ez-Zor from three directions as part of the campaign to free the city launched in August.

The lifting of the siege of Deir ez-Zor will lead to the complete defeat of the most combat-effective formations of the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, the chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate said earlier.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced earlier today that a Black Sea frigate launched strikes with cruise missiles on Daesh targets in Syria from the Mediterranean as part of the operation to free Deir ez-Zor from Daesh terrorists.</s>The Syrian presidency announced that Syrian Army troops and allied forces reached the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor on Tuesday, breaching a nearly 3-year Daesh siege on areas of the contested city near the Iraqi border.

In a statement, the office of Syrian President Bashar Assad praised Syrian army units that stood their ground throughout the siege.

State TV had previously reported that Syrian troops advancing from the west reached the western outskirts of the city and broke the siege after the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] defenses collapsed.

Breaching the siege on Deir ez-Zor, which has been occupied by Daesh since 2015, marks another triumph for President Bashar Assad, whose forces have been advancing on several fronts against Daesh and other insurgent groups over the past year.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which is based in the UK also said advancing troops and those defending the city have met.

The latest developments mark a strategic and symbolic defeat for Daesh, which last month lost its hold over Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul and is under attack by US-backed Syrian forces in its self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, northwest of Deir ez-Zor.

Syrian troops and allied forces, backed by Russia’s air force, have for months been advancing toward Deir ez-Zor, the provincial capital of the oil-rich province of the same name. The breach is expected to end a nightmare siege for tens of thousands of people trapped.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that a Russian warship in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles toward Daesh group targets in Deir ez-Zor province.

A Russian frigate in the Mediterranean Sea fired the missiles early Tuesday on Daesh targets near the city. The defense ministry said it targeted a fortified area around the town of al-Shola.

The ministry said its drone footage showed that the missile strikes there destroyed a communications center, command centers, ammunition depots, a repair shop for armored vehicles.

Tuesday’s breakthrough came after Syrian Army forces dismantled mines around a besieged air base known as Brigade 137.

DEIR EZZOR-The Syrian Arab army managed on Tuesday to break the siege which has been imposed on the city of Deir Ezzor by the ISIS terrorist organization for three years. According to the Syrian Presidency, the Syrian Arab Army and Allied Forces break the siege imposed on Deir Azzour by ISIS for more than 3 years. Syrian Army and Allied Forces meet with the steadfast heroes of the Republican Guards and the 17thBrigade, who stood firm defending the city against terrorists. “You have proved through your steadfastness in the face of the terrorist organizations that you are up to the responsibility and the trust entrusted to you as the best example for coming generations; history to register that you, though of your small number, have spared the most dear and valuable you possess as to safeguard the trust and defend the unarmed citizens and YOU have indeed been able to fulfil your tasks in the best form and registered, with no fear or hesitation, sequence of heroism deeds.” Said H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad, the General Commander of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces. In a phone call with Army Commanders, Officers and Soldiers of Deir Azzur City, President Assad added that history would record that some of you have been martyred, or wounded, bandage his wounds in a primitive way and continued the battle; these sacred and pure blood yielded this glittering victory against the terrorist takfiri thinking, backed regionally and internationally. You today stand shoulder to shoulder with your comrades in arms who waged the fiercest battles as to break the siege imposed on the city and as to stand with you in the frontline to cleanse the whole region from terrorism, restore security and safety to all of Syria till the last span of its territory.” Underscored President Assad. According to a statement by the General Command of the Syrian Arb Army and Armed Forces, the siege was broken as a great accomplishment and turning point in the war against terrorism and as a base for expanding war against terrorism and division schemes, lauding the role of the Army and its allies, the role of the Syrian and Russian Air Forces, and the steadfastness of the Syrians in Deir Azzur pledging continued war against terrorism According to SANA reporter in Deir Ezzor, units of the Syrian Arab army advancing from the western side of Deir Ezzor met today with the army personnel from regiment 137, that has been safeguarding the city, and managed to break the siege that has been imposed by ISIS for more than three years. By lifting the siege, hundreds of thousands of civilians in Deir Ezzor city can finally start receiving food and medicine from highways rather than risky air drops that would occasionally fall into ISIS-held areas. The reporter said earlier that Army units carried out new military operations under an intensive air cover to break the siege imposed by the ISIS terrorists on Deir Ezzor city . According to SANA, the army units positioned in al-Sanouf Hill opened a 700m-long gab in the areas between the Hill and the areas where the terrorists are positioned towards the gas factory at a time when the Army units advanced to an area very close to the Hill. The reporter added that the Syrian Air Force destroyed a convoy embracing 10 of the ISIS vehicles in the southwestern direction of Deir Ezzor city, in addition to destroying an ammunition depot in al-Bghiliyeh village in the western countryside of the Province. The Syrian Air Force also destroyed ISIs vehicles and fortifications in al-Malha, al-Bghiliyeh, in the surroundings of al-Jazira University, al-Taim Oil Field, al-Shola and in the surroundings of Regiment 137, killing or injuring a number of terrorists. The reporter added that the Army units engaged in a fierce clash with ISIS terrorists on the Regiment 137 and Kabajeb axes in the southwestern countryside of the Province, asserting that large numbers of ISIS terrorists escaped, leaving their weapons, ammunition and the bodies of their dead terrorists behind. The Army units are still advancing of the Regiment 137 axis to the west of Deir Ezzor city, and the army units destroyed a number of cars rigged with explosives belonging to ISIS terrorists, according to the reporter. On Monday, Governor Mohammad Ibrahim of Deir Ezzor said that the city witnessed on Sunday evening celebrations and jubilation over the advance of the Syrian Army towards the outskirts of the besieged city. “The residents of the war-torn city have endured the lack of food and the daily terrorist attacks with mortar shells, not to mention the sacrifices of the martyrs from the city who died defending the homeland,” he added.
• Victory in Deir Ezzor a Strategic Turning Point in War on Terrorism: Army Command</s>As the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Air Force, is on the verge of breaking the Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor, RT takes a closer look at why this battle could become the beginning of the end for the terrorist group.

The Syrian governmental forces continue to successfully develop their offensive on Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release Monday. Units commanded by General Suheil al-Hassan moved another 8 kilometers closer to the city over the last 24 hours and “took control over two strategically important high points.”

The Syrian Army also drove Islamic State terrorists out from their positions near the road connecting Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, the ministry said.

Russia continues to lend air support to the Syrian forces. In their most recent 80 sorties, the Russian Air Forces destroyed “two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, and more than 10 all-terrain vehicles with heavy weapons mounted on them. The terrorists lost more than 70 people," the ministry said.

“Crushing Islamic State forces in the Deir ez-Zor area and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat for the international terrorist group in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the statement says.

Islamic State defenses on the outkirts of Deir ez-Zor are effectively collapsing, Syria's SANA news agency reported, with the Syrian Air Force successfully destroying Islamic State headquarters in the Hweika neighborhood in the city's west, killing at least nine terrorist commanders, and inflicting heavy losses on the jihadists in the villages of Ayyash and Shmeitiyeh, forcing many to flee or surrender.

According to some reports, the units of the Syrian Army advancing on the city from the west are just 10 kilometers away from a military base of the government forces located in a western neighborhood of the city.

Earlier, the governor of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters that the Syrian Army would arrive at the city “in 24-48 hours at the most.”

Retaking Deir ez-Zor is of great importance for the fight against Islamic State in no small part due to its strategic location. It is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh-largest city in the whole country.

Deir ez-Zor and the surrounding governorate of the same name are located on the Syrian border with Iraq, so, if captured by the governmental forces, they will leave Islamic State terrorists effectively trapped in the heart of Syria in their only remaining stronghold of Raqqa.

“It is the last staging point for this terrorist organization, there are no other huge cities or major towns” in the area controlled by Islamic State, Martin Jay, a Beirut-based journalist, told RT. He also said that the liberation of Deir ez-Zor would be a “turning point” in the Syrian war.

“Once the city is taken and the surrounding area is flushed out of ISIS fighters we can really start to talk about the end of the war and about a new chapter of possibly restoring peace in [Syria],” he said.

Liberating the city would also give the governmental forces strategic advantage over the terrorists as it will “provide Syrian armed forces and their allies with a really stable foothold in this part of northeast Syria,” geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT.

The terrorists also apparently understand the strategic importance of Deir ez-Zor as they repeatedly pulled their strongest units and heavy weapons to the area, preparing for the last stand, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“The remaining [terrorist] forces are heading there. According to our data, militants from Mosul [in Iraq] moved there and the most battle-ready units from Raqqa,” General Sergey Rudskoy, spokesman for the Russian General Staff, said in late August.

A week later, the ministry said that the extremists also moved “tanks, all-terrain vehicles with high-caliber weapons and mortars mounted on them” to the Deir ez-Zor area, adding that the actions of the jihadists apparently show that they “recognize the fact that the staging area around Deir ez-Zor is the last stronghold of the international terrorists on the Syrian soil.”

The extremists’ efforts have so far been futile as the Syrian Army supported by Russian warplanes already defeated "the most capable and best armed group of ISIL in the Euphrates River valley,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In the battle that took place on August 27, 800 terrorists and dozens of vehicles and heavy weapons were destroyed by the Syrian forces actively supported by Russian aircraft, the ministry said at that time.

On September 3, the ministry said that “the last major pocket of terrorist resistance in central Syria has been eliminated” during the battle over the strategic town of Akerbat in Hama governorate.

“The operation to destroy a large group of Islamic State fighters in the eastern part of the Hama province was carried out with the active support of the Russian Air Force” that destroyed terrorist strongholds and their armored hardware as well as IS artillery positions, control points and communication outposts, the ministry said.

A day earlier, Moscow said that once the Deir ez-Zor blockade is lifted, the terrorists’ strategic defeat in Syria will be imminent. In mid-August, the Russian defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, said that the fall of Islamic State in Deir ez-Zor would signal the end of the extremist group.

“Today there are key points, including Deir ez-Zor. I would say, first of all, Deir ez-Zor,” he said at that time, adding that “this is perhaps the main point at the Euphrates, which will in many ways indicate the end of the fight against ISIS.”



This assessment was also shared by the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who said on September 1 that he expected the remaining Islamic State strongholds to fall within the next two months.

“What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war… what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace,” the diplomat told BBC radio.

Apart from its strategic importance for the military defeat of IS, ending the siege of Deir ez-Zor would also have a significant economic effect and become a great relief for thousands of people currently trapped in the city surrounded by jihadists.

Deir ez-Zor is the capital of an oil-rich eastern Syrian province and the center of the Syrian oil industry that once served as a source of wealth to Islamic State as it captured the area and besieged the city. Depriving terrorists of these resources would be another significant blow for the extremist group.

It might also be one of the sources of revival of the Syrian economy following the end of the war. Some of the oil and gas fields in the province have already been liberated as the Syrian Army was pushing forward toward the city.

A key Euphrates city, Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years, after being cut off from government-held areas in May 2015 during the jihadists’ offensive on Palmyra. Islamic State terrorists effectively blocked all commercial and humanitarian access into the city, trapping hundreds of thousands of civilians with little or no means to survive.

Between 93,000 and 125,000 civilians are still reportedly trapped in the city, living under appalling conditions, according to different estimates.

The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have since been supplied with food and ammunition via airdrops by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters.

“May God make them victorious, and may He make ISIS humiliated. May God make us free of (ISIS) by the will of our army. I salute our army and president,” one resident told RT in August.

“We wouldn't have sat here without the Syrian Arab Army, we are sleeping while the army is protecting us,” another civilian added.

Encouraged by reports that the lifting of the blockade was days away, the people in the city celebrated the news late on September 3.</s>BEIRUT: Syrian government forces on Tuesday reached troops besieged for years by Islamic State in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, one of the militants' last major footholds, state media said.

Tanks and troops had pressed quickly towards a government-held enclave in the city, where Islamic State had encircled thousands of civilians and Syrian forces since 2014.

"The Syrian army and its allies break the siege on Deir al-Zor," said a military media unit run by the government's ally Hezbollah.

State media and a war monitoring group also said that the advancing forces had linked up with the besieged troops at a garrison on the western edge of the city.

Syrian state news agency SANA said residents inside the city were celebrating the army advance.

Islamic State still controls much of Deir al-Zor province, including half the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said a nearby military air base in the south of the city and three adjacent neighbourhoods were still under siege by the jihadists.

Deir al-Zor provincial governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said government troops were pushing towards the air base.

"Forces are (trying to) break the siege on the military airport as well," he said.

"The coming days will also see the clearing of the city of Deir al-Zor (of militants)" and the start of advances on nearby countryside held by Islamic State, he added.

The army and its allies had made rapid advances in recent days and pushed through Islamic State lines with the help of heavy artillery and Russian air strikes.

The city has been cut off from government areas since 2013, after rebel groups rose up against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Islamic State then overran rebel positions and encircled the government enclave and the nearby air base in the city in 2014.

During the long siege, high-altitude air drops have supplied the city. The United Nations said in August it estimated there were 93,000 civilians in government-held parts of Deir al-Zor city, where conditions were "extremely difficult".

Deir al-Zor is southeast of Islamic State's former base of operations in Raqqa city, most of which has been captured in a separate offensive by U.S.-backed Syrian militias.

Islamic State fighters are believed to have fled to towns around Deir al-Zor as they came under attack in Raqqa. Both cities lie in oil-rich areas on the Euphrates river.</s>BEIRUT—The Syrian army broke Islamic State’s three-year siege of the eastern city of Deir Ezzour on Tuesday, state media said, laying the groundwork for a battle to retake the extremist group’s most important remaining stronghold and the lucrative oil fields it controls there.

The regime overcame fierce resistance by Islamic State to make the significant advance, opposition activists said. Syrian military units moved in from the western side of Deir Ezzour province and linked up with another brigade inside one of two...</s>The siege of Deir al-Zour, in the last IS stronghold in Syria, has come to an end.

State media say many of the city's 93,000 residents took to the streets to celebrate the Syrian army's victory.</s>BEIRUT: Syrian government forces on Tuesday reached troops besieged for years by Islamic State in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, one of the militants' last major footholds, state media said.

Tanks and troops had pressed quickly towards a government-held enclave in the city, where Islamic State had encircled thousands of civilians and Syrian forces since 2014.

"The Syrian army and its allies break the siege on Deir al-Zor," said a military media unit run by the government's ally Hezbollah.

State media and a war monitoring group also said that the advancing forces had linked up with the besieged troops at a garrison on the western edge of the city.

Syrian state news agency SANA said residents inside the city were celebrating the army advance.

Islamic State still controls much of Deir al-Zor province, including half the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said a nearby military air base in the south of the city and three adjacent neighbourhoods were still under siege by the jihadists.

Deir al-Zor provincial governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said government troops were pushing towards the air base.

"Forces are (trying to) break the siege on the military airport as well," he said.

"The coming days will also see the clearing of the city of Deir al-Zor (of militants)" and the start of advances on nearby countryside held by Islamic State, he added.

The army and its allies had made rapid advances in recent days and pushed through Islamic State lines with the help of heavy artillery and Russian air strikes.

The city has been cut off from government areas since 2013, after rebel groups rose up against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Islamic State then overran rebel positions and encircled the government enclave and the nearby air base in the city in 2014.

During the long siege, high-altitude air drops have supplied the city. The United Nations said in August it estimated there were 93,000 civilians in government-held parts of Deir al-Zor city, where conditions were "extremely difficult".

Deir al-Zor is southeast of Islamic State's former base of operations in Raqqa city, most of which has been captured in a separate offensive by U.S.-backed Syrian militias.

Islamic State fighters are believed to have fled to towns around Deir al-Zor as they came under attack in Raqqa. Both cities lie in oil-rich areas on the Euphrates river.</s>Syria's army broke a years-long Islamic State group siege on the government enclave of Deir Ezzor city on Tuesday, entering into a military base, state media said.

"The Syrian Arab Army has advanced on the Brigade 137 base front on the western side of Deir Ezzor city and broken the siege imposed by the Daesh organisation," state news agency SANA said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Syrian government troops and allied fighters, backed by Russian air support, have been advancing for weeks towards Deir Ezzor city, capital of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, which borders Iraq.

Government forces and tens of thousands of civilians in the city have been trapped under IS siege for over two years, facing food and medical shortages.

Early this year, the government-held parts of the city were cut in two by an IS offensive.

The army's advance to the Brigade 137 base Tuesday breaks the siege on the northern part of the city, to which it is connected by a road.

Government forces are heading towards the southern sector, however, and are currently around 15 kilometres (nine miles) away, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.

Around 100,000 people are believed to be inside government-held areas of Deir Ezzor, with perhaps 10,000 more in parts of the city held by IS.

Earlier Tuesday, a local journalist inside the government-held northern part of Deir Ezzor reported the sound of fierce clashes and heavy artillery as the army approached.

He said the national flag had been raised throughout the area in anticipation of celebrations upon the arrival of government soldiers.

Some residents, who have faced shortages of food and medicine throughout the siege, had begun greeting each other with "Good morning of victory," he added.</s>The Syrian army on Tuesday reached troops trapped for nearly three years by Isil fighters in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, according to state-run media and a monitoring group, breaking one of the longest sieges of the Syrian civil war.

Around 100,000 residents have been holding out in the Syrian-government held half of the city, including the airport and an army base, since Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) seized control of the area in 2014.

"The Syrian Arab Army has advanced on the Brigade 137 base front on the western side of Deir Ezzor city and broken the siege imposed by the Daesh organisation," state news agency SANA said, using the Arabic acronym for Isil.

A local journalist told AFP that flags had been raised throughout the government-held area in anticipation of the arrival of the soldiers, and that jubilant residents were greeting one another: “Good morning of victory”.</s>MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Syrian government forces during the liberation of Deir ez-Zor have captured a large fortified position held by terrorists from the Islamic State group (Daesh) and found evidence that the defenders originated from Russia and other ex-Soviet republics, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

"Evidence confirming previous intelligence reports from various sources indicating that the position was defended by terrorists with Russian and CIS origin was found after the liberation of the area," the ministry said in a statement.
The Syrian Army lifts the 28-month-long siege of Deir ez-Zor by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.