On June 10, ISIS renewed its attack on the strategic city of al-Bukamal near the Syrian-Iraqi border in the southern Deir Ezzor countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The pro-opposition monitoring group said that several suicide bombers of the terrorist group targeted positions of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies around the border city.
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Syrian pro-government sources confirmed that ISIS fighters failed to capture any key positions around or inside al-Bukamal. A source in the SAA also told SouthFront that the SAA and its allies deployed several new units around the strategic city to reinforce their positions there.
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists revealed that the US-led coalition deployed several special operation units in the town of al-Baghuz on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in order to monitor the ongoing clashes between the SAA and ISIS in al-Bukamal on the western bank.
The US-led coalition may be planning to cross into al-Bukamal if ISIS manges to capture it, according to opposition activists. However, local observers doubt that the coalition will do this because it will be a violation of the de-escalation zone in the Euphrates valley.
