ISIS-affiliated Amaq News Agency has announced that it has successfully split the government-held pockets of Deir Ezzor in two.

The terrorist group are now besieging the military air base that has been separated from the city.

To successfully besiege the military base, ISIS has relentlessly been sending in suicide bombers to weaken the Syrian Army defences.

Over 40 Syrian air strikes was not enough to divert the waves of ISIS attacks.

The cemetery is still under Syrian Army control and if ISIS do not quickly capture it, they remain susceptible to a counterattack and ending the siege.

Meanwhile the Syrian Army continue to repell the ISIS offensive on the southern axis in Panorama and Al-Mohandesin, whilst Syrian air strikes continue to target ISIS positions on Mt. Tharda.

The civilian areas of Al-Qossour and Al-Joura are being targeted by indiscriminate ISIS shelling resulting in the death of one woman and her daughter being injured.

It has been estimated that as many as 14,000 ISIS fighters are participating in this operation to capture Deir Ezzor from government forces.

Meanwhile, ISIS has promised a house and a wife in Deir Ezzor for every fighter who participates in the battle.

As a government enclave in the middle of ISIS territory, the Syrian Army serves as a thorn in the back and diverts many ISIS fighters from other fronts such as Mosul in Iraq.

Advertisements</s>The Syrian army also destroyed three Daesh positions with ammunition deports.

Deir ez-Zor, which is still held by Syrian government forces, has been under siege of the Daesh since July 2014.</s>Daesh terrorists have surrounded the Deir ez-Zor military airfield in Syria northeast, al-Mayadeen TV channel reported.Deir ez-Zor airbase remains the last line of defense of the Syrian army on the way to the city. Despite numerous terrorist attacks involving suicide bombers and military equipment, the Syrian Air Force managed not only to successfully defend the airfield, but also counterattacked terrorists fighting in nearby territories.The city of Deir ez-Zor, which is still held by Syrian government forces, has been under Daesh's siege since July 2014. The residents of Deir ez-Zor and the servicemen receive food only via planes delivering humanitarian aid.On Saturday, the Syrian army repelled Daesh's attack south and north-west of the Deir ez-Zor's military airfield and a number of districts in the western outskirts of the city.Earlier in the day it was reported that the Syrian army eliminated a group of 18 foreign militants of Daesh terrorist group during fighting 45 kilometers southeast of the city of Deir ez-Zor.</s>According to the TV channel, terrorists have managed to approach the airbase, gaining control over the territory which had been earlier occupied by a Syrian army military unit.

The city of Deir ez-Zor, which is still held by Syrian government forces, has been under Daesh's siege since July 2014. The residents of Deir ez-Zor and the servicemen receive food only via planes delivering humanitarian aid.

On Saturday, the Syrian army repelled Daesh's attack south and north-west of the Deir ez-Zor’s military airfield and a number of districts in the western outskirts of the city.

Earlier in the day it was reported that the Syrian army eliminated a group of 18 foreign militants of Daesh terrorist group during fighting 45 kilometers southeast of the city of Deir ez-Zor.</s>Islamic State fighters have broken through government defensive lines in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, surrounding a military airport and cutting off food supplies for roughly a quarter of a million civilians in what could become a major humanitarian disaster.

Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria is divided between the militants and the government of Bashar al-Assad. The areas controlled by the government have long been under siege but were sustained by supplies flown in to the nearby military airport and by air drops from the World Food Programme.

But on Monday, Isis fighters, which sources from the city said were primarily reinforcements coming over the border from Iraq’s Anbar province, broke through government lines, splitting its territory in half and taking control of the area where the WFP’s air drops landed.

The UN body announced on Monday that it had halted its air drops, leaving a quarter of a million civilians believed to reside in the government-held areas of Deir ez-Zor under a tightened Isis siege. The Syrian military said it responded with a series of airstrikes on Isis positions in the area.

Areas controlled by Isis are not covered under a nationwide ceasefire deal intended to pave the way for peace talks that will begin next week in Kazakhstan.

The attack is the fiercest assault by Isis on the city after months of stalemate and has already killed dozens on both sides. It comes as the group faces concerted assaults on its territory in both Syria and Iraq, and as it grapples with the losses of key leaders in assassination strikes by the US-led coalition.

In Iraq, the group is under attack in its most populous city, Mosul, where Iraqi forces backed by the US and militia fighters are inching their way forward.

In Syria the group has lost much of the countryside around its de facto capital, Raqqa, and is facing a Turkish-backed assault in the coming days on a key city north of Aleppo, al-Bab. “Al-Bab now is surrounded and the al-Bab operation is going full force despite some hiccups along the way,” said Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for the Turkish president. “We are determined to clear that city from all Daesh [Isis] elements.”

Observers believe the aim of the Isis assault on Deir ez-Zor is to pre-empt any Syrian government offensive on its territory while the group is distracted by battles elsewhere. The area under Isis control in the city has an estimated 10,000 civilians and is hemmed in by government forces to the south and the Euphrates river to the north.

A source from Deir ez-Zor with knowledge of the city’s terrain said Isis lacks the firepower to take control of the entire city. “They most likely wanted to take the initiative and prevent regime attacks, cut off government soldiers in the city, and put a stop to the air drops,” the source said. “Their positions right now are exposed so they’re likely to move towards the military airport and seize civilian districts to take shelter there, so the regime can’t attack them unless they adopt a scorched-earth policy.”

The military airport in Deir ez-Zor, manned by elite units from the Syrian Republican Guard, has withstood repeated assaults by Isis.

The city was first besieged when Isis conquered the historic city of Palmyra, cutting off land supply routes into Deir ez-Zor city except for supplies flown in by air. Many of the city’s residents have endured harsh deprivation, with limited fuel, food and water and repeated flare-ups of violence.

Deir ez-Zor has long had major strategic importance. It is close to key oilfields that were a crucial financial lifeline for Isis and is also near militant supply lines that were used to smuggle fighters across the nearby Iraqi border, even during the US occupation.

The fighting in Deir ez-Zor shows Isis still has the capacity to launch major military operations despite the loss of territory and tens of thousands of fighters on multiple battlefronts over the last two-and-a-half years. Late last year the group once again took control of Palmyra after the retreat of the Syrian military, which had taken the city back from Isis just months earlier.</s>A large group of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants have been making massive advances in Deir ez-Zor province, cutting off a key air base supplying both anti-jihadist fighters and civilians in the region, RT's Lizzie Phelan reported from Syria.

"Frightening developments" is how Phelan has described the situation unfolding in the eastern Syrian province near the Iraqi border over the last few days. She said the terrorists had succeeded in cutting the last government-held patch of the Deir ez-Zor city in two, and severed a government-held military base from the rest of the city.

The airbase had been used by the Syrian government to deliver supplies to an estimated 120,000 civilians trapped in the city, which has been under the siege by the militants who had blocked all other delivery routes. Helicopters, which have been the only source of aid deliveries, including food and medical supplies, are now unable to land at the base, the RT crew reported.

The helicopters reportedly cannot deliver reinforcements to pro-government forces as well, which might enable IS to overrun the city and commit atrocities against its residents. People who have been living under constant IS shelling, told RT the attacks have been particularly bad over the last few days, calling it the most fierce offensive by the Islamic militants they've seen in months.

Having spoken to civilians and pro-government fighters in the besieged areas, RT's reporter said people described their living conditions as being "extremely tough." With the lack of food, people are mostly surviving on canned food, she said, while a complete lack of fuel has forced people to mainly use bicycles. With the supporting airbase cut off, it's going to be even more difficult, Phelan reported.

It is believed the Islamists now involved in the Deir ez-Zor offensive came from the Iraqi city of Mosul, where they had been forced out by a US-led military operation against the terrorists. Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that more than 5,000 terrorists had moved to Syria's Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor from Iraq's Mosul.

"What is very telling in the recent ISIS Deir ez-Zor offensive is that many of the groups who have led it are special groups of elite ISIS fighters who come from Iraq. So there is a direct link between what's happening in Mosul and the intense pressure that ISIS is under, which is translating on the battlefield in Syria," Danny Makki, a Syria analyst told RT.

He also shifted blame on Washington for not being "genuine in its fight against ISIS." There is "no doubt" the US-led coalition has seen convoys of IS terrorists crossing into Syria from Mosul and heading to Deir ez-Zor, he said, accusing the coalition of not having attacked the terrorists and allowing them regroup in Syria.</s>Islamic State militants launched their biggest attack in months on government-held areas of the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, leaving dozens of dead, a war monitor said.At least six large explosions rocked the city since dawn as the militants clashed with the army and allied forces, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.Syrian government warplanes hit back against Islamic State positions, the Observatory and state media said.Syrian state news agency SANA said the army was repelling attacks by the ultra-hardline jihadist group along several frontlines, including around the military airport controlled by the government.Islamic State shelling killed three people and wounded nine in residential government-held districts, SANA reported.The fighting and bombardment killed at least 12 government forces and 20 Islamic State fighters, the Observatory said.Islamic State controls most of Deir al-Zor province, which borders Iraq, including more than half the city, and has besieged the remaining government-held areas of the city for nearly two years.The Syrian government and its Russian ally have made regular aid drops into the encircled zone, where about 200,000 people live, lacking food and medicine.Deir al-Zor province links Islamic State's de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory controlled by the militant group in Iraq.</s>Islamic State has launched its fiercest assault in a year against a besieged Syrian government enclave in the city of Deir al-Zor, trying to cut it off from a nearby military air base in a battle that has killed dozens.

A Syrian military source said the fighting was intense. “This attack is one of the most fierce attempts by Daesh on the airport and the area,” the source told Reuters, using an Arabic term for the group. “It seems Daesh has mobilised a big force.”

Describing the fighting as the fiercest in the eastern city for a year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that at least 82 people had been killed.

It also reported that Islamic State had cut the road linking the air base to the rest of the government enclave, meaning the army would be able to supply the city only by air drops, but this was denied by the military source.

The governor of Deir al-Zor, Mohammad Ibrahim Samra, said in a telephone interview on state television that clashes were taking place on the air base road.

The fiercest fighting was around the Deir al-Zor cemetery and a road junction known locally as the Panorama Roundabout, the observatory said.

The dead comprised 28 from the army and allied militia, at least 40 Islamic State fighters, and 14 civilians, the British-based monitoring group said. Syrian state news agency SANA said the army had killed dozens of Islamic State fighters in attacks on the group’s positions around Deir al-Zor.

Islamic State advanced into Deir al-Zor and the surrounding area in 2015 and managed to besiege it last year, but the army retained control of the airport and neighbouring districts in the city, which lies on the Euphrates river.

A US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab militias and rival Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups have pushed Islamic State from much of its territory in northern Syria, but it remains embedded in the eastern desert and Euphrates basin.

Last month it recaptured the city of Palmyra, 185km southwest of Deir al-Zor, from the government in an unexpected advance that demonstrated its continuing military threat.</s>Islamic State militants launched their biggest attack in months on government-held areas of the Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, leaving dozens dead, a war monitor said. At least six large explosions rocked the city as the militants clashed with government forces, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Reuters.</s>Daesh launched its fiercest assault against an Assad regime enclave in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, reportedly cutting off the regime enclave on Monday night.



"This attack is one of the most fierce attempts by Daesh on the airport and the area," the source told Reuters, using an Arabic term for the group. "It seems Daesh has mobilized a big force," a source from Assad regime said.



The terrorist group seized from Assad forces the districts of Harabesh, Rusafa, Albunasir, Jiraiya, Meisalun, Makabes, Nishan districts, and cut off the road linking the air base controlled by Assad forces with the rest of the enclave, meaning the army is only able to supply the city with air drops. Heavy fighting has reportedly taken place around the air base and the city center.



On Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the clashes in the city had left at least 82 people dead, including Daesh terrorists, soldiers and militiamen loyal to the Assad regime, and civilians.



The oil-rich city of Deir al-Zor became a target of Daesh terrorists in 2014. The group gradually seized large swathes of the city, cornering Assad forces in an enclave located in the center of Deir al-Zor.



Daesh terrorists are currently holding the whole province of Deir al-Zor, with the exception of pockets in the city center controlled by the Assad regime. Last month it recaptured the city of Palmyra, 185 km (115 miles) southwest of Deir al-Zor, from Assad forces in an unexpected advance that demonstrated its continuing military threat.



The U.N.'s World Food Program has temporarily suspended air drops of vital supplies to the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor due to heavy fighting there, a spokeswoman said yesterday. The WFP, whose last drop there was on Sunday, has carried out 177 air drops for 110,000 people in the city since beginning the operation, spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said.



We have put on hold the air drop operation in the city for security operational reasons," she said speaking to reporters in Geneva. "There is heavy fighting ongoing in and around the landing zone... It is simply too dangerous to do this now."



The WFP has been dropping humanitarian aid into Deir al-Zor since April 2016, and the government-held area is the only place in Syria where the agency has permission for the drops. The Daesh assault has managed to divide the east of the remaining government-held parts of the city from the west.



It has also cut the route running from the city's key military airport, limiting the regime's ability to bring in supplies and military reinforcements.



More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-Assad protests that were met with a regime crackdown.
ISIL's third attack against the Syrian government's forces in the city of Deir ez-Zor reportedly splits the government held area in two. An estimated 14,000 ISIL fighters are participating in the attack according to the government.