Attacks on the last ISIS pockets in East Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by US-coalition warplanes and Iraqi forces, launched on Monday an attack on the last major ISIS holdout east of the Euphrates River on the Syrian-Iraqi border, ahead of a huge operation aimed at eradicating the terrorist organization.

“International Coalition warplanes are intensely attacking ISIS areas, in conjunction with SDF rocket shelling,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said, adding that SDF reinforcements had been sent to the area ahead of a big military operation.

Sources confirmed “the offensive will be launched in the coming hours on ISIS’ last enclave on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River,” the Observatory said.

Meanwhile, Iraq’s Major General Qassim Al-Mohammadi, commander of Jazira Operations, said in a statement on Monday that the Iraqi army and the Coalition pounded ISIS hideouts in the Baghouz area, 15 kilometers deep in the Syrian territories.

Earlier on Saturday, Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, said on Twitter that Coalition forces are preparing “to accelerate operations in east Syria.”

The Observatory said it documented the arrival of thousands of SDF fighters to the area in the last few days, following guarantees that Turkey would not attack the border strip between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The expected offensive against ISIS on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River comes after the terrorist group managed to restore all the areas it has lost in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor since the start of the last military operation against it on September 10.

The Observatory said ISIS militants had exploited the bad weather and sand storms to recover what the terrorist organization had lost two months ago.

Source: Aawsat