Syrian Army Sends Fresh Forces, More Military Equipment to Deir Ezzur

The Tiger Forces units departed from Qomhana in Northern Hama to the Homs province’s town of al-Sukhnah late Thursday afternoon, and will be tasked with retaking the regions along the Deir Ezzur-Sukhnah Highway and West of the provincial capital which were seized by the ISIL during their large-scale attack on Thursday.

The ISIL proved on Thursday that they may not give-up the Deir Ezzur province without a fight, as militants launched a powerful offensive against the Syrian Army troops and their allies in the Western part of the province.

In the meantime, the Syrian military dismissed claims that the ISIL terrorist group cut off a strategic road connecting Deir Ezzur to Palmyra city in Homs province.

Reuters quoted a Syrian military source as saying Thursday that army forces had repelled ISIL’s attack on the town of al-Shoula on Deir Ezzur-Homs road, which serves as a supply route from government territory into the Eastern city.

The source was reacting to a report by the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that ISIL had taken control of al-Shoula.

 “They (terrorists) received a blow and did not succeed,” the military source added.

Relevant reports said on Thursday that the ISIL adopted new measures to keep the areas which were under its occupation in Deir Ezzur after facing the Syrian army’s rapid and extensive advance.

An informed source confirmed that the ISIL changed its high-ranking commanders in Deir Ezzur after the army succeeded in breaking the siege on Deir Ezzur city and rapidly advanced in several fronts in the region.

He added that the ISIL gave its sensitive posts to the Syrian nationals in Deir Ezzur to persuade them to remain in the region after its foreign members fled from the two towns of Albu Kamal and al-Mayadeen in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.

According to the source, the ISIL appointed Saddam al-Jamal, a Syrian national, as the commander of a number of Tunisian members to defend the terrorist group’s positions in Albu Kamal and participate in imminent clashes with the army forces.