The race for Deir ez Zor is won.
It was confirmed today that the SAA's Tiger forces, under the command of Suheil "The Tiger" al-Hassan, reached the 17th Reserve Division's 137th Mechanised Brigade on the outskirts of Deir ez Zor city. The 137th is under the command of Issam Zahreddine, the badass Major General who has turned Deir ez Zor into ISIS' biggest graveyard for the past 3 years.
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| Maj Gen Issam Zahreddine |
However it must be stressed that while the siege is broken, it will probably still take more time for the SAA to fully retake the whole city. Deir ez Zor is ISIS' last major strategic city and I expect stiff resistance in the city itself, with regular use of snipers and VBIEDs. But victory in Deir ez Zor is certain. It is an urban environment where ISIS cannot use its feared desert ambush tactics.
My Syrian expert friend Amirhossein had this to say about what sort of fighting the SAA would expect in Deir ez Zor:
YT video of fighting in Deir ez Zor (would embed but blogger is weird about that).
https://youtu.be/cZgZxTP8k50
My Syrian expert friend Amirhossein had this to say about what sort of fighting the SAA would expect in Deir ez Zor:
If ISIS decides to fight like it is doing in Raqqa or as it did in Mosul, SAA will have a very hard job. So, another option, if ISIS tries to drag SAA into urban warfare, is to go for Deir ez Zor countryside and try to cleanse eastern areas of Deir ez Zor, towards Iraq border, north of which lie some big oil fields that SAA might not want to be captured by SDF
YT video of fighting in Deir ez Zor (would embed but blogger is weird about that).
https://youtu.be/cZgZxTP8k50
Maps
The SAA made quick work of ISIS resistance on the road to Deir ez Zor, taking strategic points like Mount Bishri as well as oil fields, further bolstering the push. The Tiger forces then made a risky push for Deir ez Zor, but I assume that reconnaissance had determined low ISIS presence in the area. Usually, the SAA seeks to consolidate the areas it is occupying in order to lessen the risk of encirclement resulting from an ISIS ambush.
As observable in the map above the SAA was still tens of kilometres away from Deir ez Zor on 02/09/17. But a concerted push on the 3rd brought them very close to the city.
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| Map showing situation near Deir ez Zor just 3 days ago on the 2nd of September |
As observable in the map above the SAA was still tens of kilometres away from Deir ez Zor on 02/09/17. But a concerted push on the 3rd brought them very close to the city.
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| Situation in Deir ez Zor as of 3rd September. |
Implications
The capture of Deir ez Zor is a big strategic break for the SAA. Especially considering its airport, the city can be used as the launching point for further operations near the populous Euphrates river banks, where the last remaining ISIS strongholds in Syria remain, including the town of Al Mayadin which was the target for an Iranian missile strike on ISIS in June.
Once again I thank my good friend Amirhossein for his advice and answers on some details.
Images from google and twitter.
And finally, I know this isn't really that kind of blog, but here are some relevant memes.
https://twitter.com/Zinvor/status/904435529348993025
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