Dozens of people have lost their lives when Daesh Takfiri terrorists launched a fresh offensive on the eastern Syrian city of Dayr al-Zawr, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
The Britain-based monitoring group said at least six large explosions shook the city, located 450 kilometers northeast of the capital, Damascus, on Saturday as the extremists and government forces engaged in fierce fighting with each other.
The multi-pronged Daesh attack started from Baghaliyeh neighborhood near the northwestern flank of the city.
The group added that Syrian Air Force fighter jets carried out a series of strikes against Daesh positions in the area.
The aerial attacks reportedly targeted Baghaliyeh and Ayash neighborhoods as well as the peripherals of the 137th Brigade base west of Dayr al-Zawr.
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, also reported that two people lost their lives and eight others sustained injuries as Daesh terrorists fired a barrage of mortar shells at the al-Joura and al-Qousour neighborhoods of the city. The projectiles caused material damage to local residents’ houses and property in the targeted areas.
Daesh terrorists, who control most of Dayr al-Zawr Province, have kept the remaining government-held areas of the city under siege since 2014.
Syrian Army forces have withstood the blockade in light of air-dropped humanitarian assistance as well as military equipment flown into a nearby military airport controlled by government soldiers.
Syrian army, allies launch operation to liberate Palmyra
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces and fighters from allied popular groups have mounted a large-scale operation to retake the ancient Semitic city of Palmyra in the central province of Homs from Daesh terrorists.
An unnamed military source said some 10,000 soldiers and fighters have taken part in the offensive, and the forces aim to liberate Jazal oil field and Shaer gas field in the first phase of the operation.
The source added that Syrian forces and their allies have managed to advance three kilometers on the northeastern side of the Tiyas Military Airbase, which is also known as the T-4 Airbase and lies west of Palmyra.
Syrian and Russian fighter jets, together with Syrian artillery units, are supporting government soldiers and their allies in the operation to liberate Palmyra.
Late year, the Syrian Army managed to liberate the eastern sector of Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, which had fallen to militant groups back in 2012.
Government forces later secured the evacuation of remaining civilians and armed groups from the city under a ceasefire deal with the militant groups, brokered by Russia and Turkey.
The Aleppo deal set the stage for a landmark all-Syria truce deal between Damascus and foreign-backed militant groups operating in the country.
The diplomatic achievements were made following high-level trilateral talks involving Russia, Iran and Turkey in Moscow over the Syrian crisis.
