Syria: Syrian army breaks ISIL siege in Deir ez-Zor airbase
The Syrian army and allied forces have broken ISIL’s siege on Deir Az Zor military airport, state media said on Saturday, hours after US-backed fighters announced a separate push against the armed group in the oil-rich eastern province.
State news agency SANA said the breach came “after the forces advancing from the cemetery southwest of the city linked up with the forces holding the air base”.
The latest advance of the Russia-backed forces came days after they ended another siege on residential districts of the city as they seek to remove the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) from its last major stronghold in Syria.
Earlier on Saturday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said they had also launched an anti-ISIL offensive from the north of Deir Az Zor city, aiming to clear the group from territory east of the Euphrates River.