In Syria there is a stronghold of the Syrian government that has been resisting defeat for years. We are talking about the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, a small town on paper, an important de facto oil hub.
In recent days the famous Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported significant movements of ISIS men and vehicles around the part of the city still held in Damascus.
As for Palmyra, the total conquest of the area would reinvigorate the morale of the black militiamen, as witnessed by the Pentagon: “weakened by the non-payment of salaries for months and highlighted by the decline in attacks with bombs”.
The resistance of the Syrian Deir Ezzor loyalists is as heroic as it is dramatic. They are supplied with an air connection to the city of Al Hasaka by helicopters, a rather uncertain and insecure logistic line due to the high presence of MANPADS (shoulder-to-air missiles). The same carriers must also provide at the same time for the shifts (when really necessary ...) of men, for the evacuation of the wounded and for supplies. We can only imagine the drama experienced in that context coinciding with the bombardment of the international coalition against the "exchanged" loyalists for Caliphate militants (v.articolo). Last September 17 the victims were 84. It is therefore easy to imagine that the wounded were at least as many, since the air attack is then promptly followed by one from the ground of the ISIS ...
The helicopters that connect the garrison regularly carry 12 soldiers (number doubled in case of need and without additional loads). The destination base is, as aforesaid, that of Al Hasaka, another "Fort Apache" surrounded this time by the Kurdish militias. After sniping a few dozen soldiers from Damascus last summer, the Kurds seem to respect a truce in the area, but the fall of Al Hasaka would automatically mean the loss of Deir Ezzor.
If the Kurds will never do such a favor to the bitter enemies of the Caliphate, it is not so certain that they will have a similar regard when ISIS will be definitively replaced by the "politically correct" SDF (the "Syrian Democratic Forces").
The US Department of Defense reports, meanwhile, that the SDFs would be just 4 kilometers from the capital of the Caliphate, Raqqa.
(photo: Italian Army / Southfront.org)
