“As ISIS is being squeezed out of Mosul and isolated from Raqqa they are centered largely along the Euphrates River valley, ranging from Raqqa all the way down through Deir ez-Zor, Mayadin, Abu Kamal, and then over into Al-Qa'im in Iraq,” the press office of the US-led global anti-ISIS coalition told Rudaw English by email. “That is probably their largest concentration of forces.”
“We also believe there is a pocket of ISIS fighters there that may grow as they realize they cannot safely re-enter Raqqa and have no ability to get into Mosul in large numbers without encountering Iraqi security forces screening them.”
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have also noted movement of ISIS leadership out of Raqqa. On March 10, the spokesperson for the SDF’s campaign to liberate Raqqa, Cihan Shekh Ahmed, stated that they had information the leadership of ISIS had left the city.
Her comments came a couple of days after the SDF cut the main route between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zur, located about 125 kilometres down the Euphrates River, as part of their campaign to oust the extremist group from its de facto capital.
The assault on the urban centre of Raqqa is expected to be launched within a couple of weeks, in early April.
“Regarding the decision to liberate Raqqa and storm it, the matter is decided and at the start of the month of April the military operation will begin,” Sipan Hemo, commander in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), told Reuters last week. The YPG is one of the groups fighting ISIS under the SDF banner in northern Syria.
The SDF is coordinating with the Deir ez-Zur Military Council in its current campaign to isolate Raqqa. The local military council will progress on the city from the east, the SDF stated in February, announcing their partnership.
“By this means we will not only give the people of Raqqa the news of liberation, but also the people of Deir ez-Zur.”
ISIS is not in full control of Deir ez-Zur city. The Syrian army controls portions, including an airbase in the south of the city, and the two clash regularly.
On Saturday, the Syrian army advanced against ISIS in the south of Deir ez-Zur, taking control over two positions, state-run SANA reported. The army also fought off an ISIS attack on the southwest of the city, according to the same news agency.
Saturday’s clashes come after ISIS reportedly launched a “broad offensive” against the Syrian army earlier in the week in the vicinity of the city’s airbase and areas south of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
SANA reported that ISIS’ attack on the airbase had been successfully fought off.
The province of Deir ez-Zur is strategically important as it is home to Syria’s largest oil deposits, which have been major sources of income for ISIS. The region has “the most fertile oil and gas fields” left under ISIS control that the group is able to exploit, the coalition’s press office stated.
The coalition has carried out regular airstrikes in the Deir ez-Zur area, mainly targeting ISIS oil infrastructure and equipment.
The city of Deir ez-Zur had a pre-war population of 211,000, mainly Arab with small Kurdish, Armenian, and Assyrian populations.
The desert around the city contains many mass graves of Armenians killed during the 1915 genocide. It was designated “the destination point and final killing centre of the Armenian deportees,” the Armenian National Institute states on its website. “Those who survived the death marches were brought to the desert of Der Zor and murdered in this area.”
A memorial was built to the victims, opening in 1990 inside the Armenian Holy Martyrs Church in Deir ez-Zur. On September 21, 2014, Armenian Independence Day, ISIS militants blew up the church, the news outlet Armenia Now reported at the time.
