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Voiceover by Harold Hoover
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Qalamoun Shield Forces (QSF) have liberated the villages of Um Rujm, ‘Amudiyah, Rasm Sawwanah, Unq al-Hawa, Khan, Luwaybidah, and Darwishiyah from ISIS in the eastern countryside of Salamiyah north of the Homs-Palmyra highway.
Despite strong ISIS resistance, government troops continue developing momentum in the area. The operation was slowed down in late August because the Syrian military redeployed many units to Deir Ezzor province. However, according to pro-government sources, the entire pocket will be liberated within a few weeks.
The SAA and the Syrian Republican Guard have seized the important Rouad mountain and developed an advance in the direction of Baghiliyah on the northwestern flank of Deir Ezzor city. Government troops have also advanced against ISIS in Jafrah and al-Mariiyah.
Government forces are seeking to secure the recent gains and to expand a buffer zone around the city in order to prevent future ISIS counter-attacks in the area.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) further advanced in the northern Deir Ezzor countryside and entered the area of al-Husayniyah within about 3km from Deir Ezzor city.
Meanwhile, in Raqqah, the SDF repelled an ISIS attack in the central part of the city killing some 33 ISIS members.
In summing up the recent events, it becomes clear that both the US-led coalition and the Syrian-Iranian-Russian alliance are now consolidating their resources in Deir Ezzor province in a race for strategic areas in eastern Syria, including the Baghdad-Damascus highway and the oil fields on the eastern bank of the Euphrates.
SAA is cautious in their predictions. A few days before DeZ was liberated, SAA was predicting a date of two months for their arrival there. This pocket is already collapsing and will be finished in a few days. Daesh lost most of their combat force in the brief Uqayribat counter-offensive.
The biggest issue is that if Kurds declare independence, this will lead to a whole new redrawing of the middle east, and maybe the world. The middle east is more diverse than what westerners think, with religious and ethnic diversity. If the West enables Kurds to rip land from Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, what will stop other ethnic and religious states from popping up?
“A whole new redrawing” would imply that there was no such thing for a while.