MOSCOW: Russia is to send 175 de-mining engineers to defuse mines in Syria's Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Monday.

The first detachment of 40 de-miners has already been deployed to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, the ministry said.

Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday.</s>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is to send 175 de-mining engineers to defuse mines in Syria’s Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying on Monday.

The first detachment of 40 de-miners has already been deployed to Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria, the ministry said.

Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday.</s>MOSCOW: Russia is to send 175 de-mining engineers to defuse mines in Syria's Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Monday.

The first detachment of 40 de-miners has already been deployed to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, the ministry said.

Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday.</s>A group of mine clearance specialists of the Russian Armed Forces have been sent to the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor to take part in the mine removal operation following the breach of the city blockade, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“A forward detachment of the International Mine Action Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has been deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic,” the ministry’s press service said in a statement.

The unit, consisting of more than 40 mine clearance specialists joined by a squad of specially trained mine-detecting sniffer dogs and equipped with seven specialized vehicles, was already transferred to the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria’s Latakia Province, it said. The military specialists would be soon redeployed to the liberated districts of Deir ez-Zor for reconnaissance operations before the actual demining starts.

The forward detachment will be followed by other Russian mine disposal units, the statement said, adding that the total number of Russian specialists working in Deir ez-Zor would eventually be 175. They will have 42 pieces of specialized military equipment, including Uran-6 state-of-the-art multi-purpose de-mining robotic complexes, which were previously used in Palmyra, Syria.

The bomb disposal units will first focus on demining roads leading to hospitals, schools, apartment blocks, as well as water and electricity supply facilities and historical monuments.

It will not be their first time working in Syria, as they previously conducted successful mine clearance operations in Aleppo and Palmyra after liberation by the Syrian Army from jihadists. The Russian specialists removed around 62,000 explosive devices and cleared about 5,300 hectares of land during the operations, according to the ministry.

While working in Palmyra in April 2016, the Russian combat engineers discovered and defused “one of the largest jihadist arsenals” containing more than 12,000 explosive devices after they cleared 234 hectares of land, 14 miles of road, and 10 architectural objects at the UNESCO World Heritage site located near the city.

In December 2016, Russian bomb disposal teams also worked in Aleppo, Syria after it was wrested from rebel control. They managed to clear 966 hectares of land, made safe 2,149 buildings in and around Aleppo, including 44 schools, 38 mosques, 10 medical facilities, and swept 350km of road in the area for mines, according to a Russian Syrian Reconciliation Center report issued at that time.

They also found explosives and munitions that came from various parts of the world, including the US and Germany. “The munitions we found were German, American, Bulgarian… The amount they had was somewhat disconcerting,” Major Ivan Gromov, a bomb disposal squad leader, said at the time.

The Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Air Force, broke a three-year blockade of Deir ez-Zor in early September.</s>MOSCOW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Russia is to send 175 de-mining engineers to defuse mines in Syria's Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency quoted Russia's Defence Ministry as saying on Monday.

The first detachment of 40 de-miners has already been deployed to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, the ministry said.

Syrian government forces and U.S.-backed militias converged on Islamic State in separate offensives against the militants in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zor on Sunday. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Christian Lowe)</s>DEIR EZ-ZOR (Syria), (Sputnik) — Syrian army units launched an offensive on the part of the city of Deir ez-Zor controlled by militants of the Daesh terrorist group (banned in numerous countries), a RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the scene Tuesday.

Terrorists, for their part, are delivering mortar fire and attempted to attack detachments of the Syrian army with three mined vehicles with suicide attackers at the wheel, the correspondent said.

Last week marked the lifting of the three-year Daesh siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor and the liberation of a local airfield, which had kept more than 1,000 Syrian troops locked in since January. However, the fighting to fully liberate the area is still underway.

The successful Deir ez-Zor operation was the biggest breakthrough against Daesh since the terrorist group first launched an offensive in the province. The terrorists had been blockading Deir ez-Zor since 2014, with food and other supplies only being airlifted into the city. The group also took control over a large swath of the province of Deir ez-Zor and cut off roads to government-held districts.

Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province was the largest hotbed of the most combat-ready units of the Daesh terrorist organization (banned in Russia). Terrorists of the so-called caliphate’s initial goal was to take over the northern province of Syria and its administrative center.

Deir ez-Zor was not a random choice. There are large oil and gas deposits in the province, as well as a significant number of state-owned factories. Now, Deir ez-Zor is attracting the remaining terrorist forces from all over Syria, mainly from Daesh’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa.</s>HMEIMIM (Sputnik) — The Syrian government troops are completing the operation to defeat Daesh terrorist group (ISIS, banned in Russia) in Deir ez-Zor, Lt. Gen. Alexander Lapin, chief of staff of the Russian Armed Forces group in Syria, told reporters Tuesday.

"Currently, the operation to liberate the city continues. The Syrian troops are fighting a Daesh unit that blocked the northern and southern quarters of Deir ez-Zor," Lapin said.

Over 450 Daesh terrorists, 5 tanks and 42 pickup trucks with large-caliber machine guns had been destroyed in the operation to liberate Deir ez-Zor, he said.

The successful Deir ez-Zor operation was the biggest breakthrough against Daesh since the terrorist group first launched an offensive in the province. The terrorists had been blockading Deir ez-Zor since 2014, with food and other supplies only being airlifted into the city. The group also took control over a large swath of the province of Deir ez-Zor and cut off roads to government-held districts.</s>The race between legitimate Syrian government forces and the US-backed SDF umbrella group to control the oil rich Deir ez-Zor province has intensified following the lifting of the blockade by Syrian troops last week and risks turning into direct confrontation.

Last Tuesday, the Syrian military backed by the Russian air force finally broke the IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) siege of Deir ez-Zor from the west following a cruise missile strike on terrorist positions.

The advance to clear the remaining terrorists progressed at a steady pace, and by Saturday, Syrian government forces smashed the IS blockade of the military airport which for three years had served as the only lifeline to the city.

Following Damascus’ strategic victory, and while its forces continue to squash pockets of IS resistance in the west of the city, the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) swiftly announced on Saturday a separate offensive east of Deir ez-Zor. SDF forces raced to Deir ez-Zor which lies only 140 km south-east of Raqqa, where the US-led coalition is conducting its main offensive against ISIS.

“Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) welcomes the commencement of their offensive to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the Khabur River Valley, dubbed ‘Operation Jazeera Storm,’ north of Dayr Az Zawr (Deir ez-Zor) in eastern Syria,” the Pentagon said in a statement Saturday. It added that the operation will be run by the Deir Ez-zor Military Coalition.

The Pentagon confirmed that US-led coalition forces will support the mainly Kurdish militia in the “Khabur River Valley offensive” as part of the advice and assist mission. The US-coalition also said that it will offer the SDF equipment, intelligence and logistics support, in addition to “precision fires and battlefield advice.”

READ MORE: Syrian Army with Russian air support breaks airbase siege near Deir ez-Zor – MоD

“It’s going to be a race,” former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT. “It is going to be a race because you’ve got the Syrian army with Russian assistance coming in from the West and you have the United States coming in from the north and the East.”

On Sunday, spokesman for the CJTF–OIR, Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, said the SDF has made “significant gains into the Khabur River Valley,” capturing roughly 250 km2 since launching its Operation Jazeera Storm offensive. The Khabur River runs south through Deir ez-Zor province into the Euphrates River, which is about 35 kilometers east of the provincial capital.

According to reports, the SDF was just a few kilometers across the river from Deir Ez-zor city. The coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters, allegedly advanced from the northeast, reportedly capturing the 113th Brigade Base and parts of the Al-Salihiyah District, Almasdar news noted in their report.

Meanwhile Monday, the Syrian army continued with its successes against IS fighters in the west near the airport, “liberating the 17th Hills that are located just southwest of the Liwaa Tameen Base,” the report added.

According to Almasdar, both forces are apparently aiming to block each other’s path to the city of Albukamal on the Euphrates river which lies near the border with Iraq.



“As we get closer to Deir ez-Zor and you have these forces converge upon one another, the importance of [communication] between the Russians and the coalition, SDF and the regime becomes more important,” Dillon was quoted as saying by Foreign Policy magazine.

READ MORE: Russia sends sappers to help demine liberated parts of Deir ez-Zor (VIDEO)

“The SDF and regime conduct all their interactions [with Russian side] through the deconfliction channel” Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a defense department spokesperson told Foreign Policy. “We pass messages on about where we’re operating, and they’ll pass on where they’re operating,” he said.

The SDF has meanwhile promised not to attack Syrian government forces.

“We have clear instructions that after Daesh is eliminated, we should not act against the forces of the [Bashar Assad] regime or against the Russian, Iranian forces or the Hezbollah movement, which are allied with it,” SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Sputnik Monday.

As the SDF military offensive to expel IS and secure parts oil rich province continues, tribal figures aligned with SDF have already proposed measures to form their own form of government. Tribal figures on Monday called for “establishing a preparatory committee that will discuss the basis and starting points for a Civil Council for Deir ez-Zor.”

The statement published by SDF’s media office said the consultations would aim to reach a “formulation that will express the aspirations of all our people in Deir ez-Zor.” The statement, however, did not mention if the city council activities would be coordinated with the central government.



Maloof believes the US is intentionally using the Kurds to permanently entrench themselves in the oil rich Syrian province that is bordering Iraq.

“I think the US activity, their initiatives now are calculated. They are meant to try to maintain a US presence in Deir ez-Zor,” Maloof pointed out.

‘Moment of triumph': Deir ez-Zor governor speaks about his city's liberation from ISIS (VIDEO)

“Even though the Syrian army and the Russian air assistance has basically taken over the place, the United States really wants to maintain that area. They want to occupy it with the help of the Kurds.”

“I think the United States has the intentions of building a base there. The US has political and strategic intentions for that region; aimed principally at trying to maintain influence in neighboring Iraq ultimately.”

READ MORE: Bashar Assad’s Deir ez-Zor victory puts illegal US presence in spotlight

“Ultimately the Syrian army needs to reoccupy their own area, their country,” Maloof said “I think there is going to be a need for the United States and Russia to talk about this because this could create even greater conflict on who is going to ultimately occupy Deir ez-Zor and indeed that entire region.”</s>Units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) opposition alliance, manned mainly by Kurdish militias, promise not to attack the Syrian government forces in Deir ez-Zor, SDF spokesman Talal Silo told Sputnik on Monday.Earlier reports indicated that SDF units began their own operation against the Daesh terrorist group (banned in Russia) in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor, where the Syrian government forces are already conducting a successful operation with the support of the Russian combat planes.The news comes after the SDF announced a launch of an operation to kick Daesh (banned in Russia) terrorists out from the areas east of the Euphrates river and the eastern borders of the city of Deir ez-Zor days after it had been unblocked by the Syrian army.Earlier it was reported that the Syrian army, with Russian air support, has managed to finally break the Daesh siege of Deir ez-Zor.The operation to break the siege of Deir ez-Zor, which lies 140 km south east of Raqqa, began after four months of planning and preparation in the wake of the completion of the operation to liberate east Aleppo in January. This operation ended serious rebel activity in western Syria, allowing pro-government forces to turn their attention to the east across the country's desert region into Daesh heartlands.</s>Umm Mustafa, an 80-year-old resident of Deir ez-Zor in an interview with Sputnik Arabic said that Daesh terrorists unsuccessfully tried to induce innocent people to fight on their side.

As a result of that, many people including Mustafa lost her sons, as they refused to comply with Daesh’s orders.

During the blockade of Deir ez-Zor, her family lived in an area occupied by the militants.

“Terrorists who were in charge of the district, issued an order, to call men into their ranks. They did not pay attention to either their age or that it could be the only son in the family,” Mustafa told Sputnik.

“I have three sons. We found a person who was involved in smuggling, including extracting people from Daesh-controlled areas, for a lot of money. He started the process to take my sons out of the city, and since then I do not know much about their fate. Neighbors said that they died in the desert during the bombings by the international coalition,” Mustafa said.

Many men were the sole breadwinners in their households. They did not want to join Daesh and die for them, but they could not stay with their children and elderly parents.

According to Mustafa this was a real tragedy and people who got out of the city on their own did not even realize the scale of the blockade and the extent of the risks involved.

“Many of those who sought to leave this hell were killed on the road,” Mustafa said. “Perhaps they consciously chose death over joining the ranks of terrorists,” she added.

Mustafa continued by saying that what Daesh preaches is false Islam; it has nothing in common with the real one.

She added that the most vulnerable people during wartime are civilians because they seem to be in between a “hammer and an anvil.”

Talking about the future of Syria and the fight with the terrorists, Mustafa said that she worries for the cities across the country.

“I'm afraid that the eastern cities of the country may turn into ghost towns. They will have a handful of old men, women and children; this may be the price of this war. Although chaos recedes from Deir ez-Zor, there remains confusion: it is not clear who managed to escape, who stayed, and who died,” Mustafa said.

She added that the fate of many children, including her sons, remains unknown.

“Mine and other mother’s tears do not dry out, but still there is a glimmer of hope,” she said.

Last week marked the lifting of the three-year Daesh siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor and the liberation of a local airfield, which had kept more than 1,000 Syrian troops locked in since January. However, the fighting to fully liberate the area is still underway.

The successful Deir ez-Zor operation was the biggest breakthrough against Daesh since the terrorist group first launched an offensive in the province. The terrorists had been blockading Deir ez-Zor since 2014, with food and other supplies only being airlifted into the city. The group also took control over a large swath of the province of Deir ez-Zor and cut off roads to government-held districts.
Russia sends 175 demining combat engineers to defuse mines in Deir ez-Zor Governorate.