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. 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.
The Syrian Army lifts the 28-month-long siege of Deir ez-Zor by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.