Assad forces retake city center in Syria’s Deir ez-Zour

By Adham Kako

ANKARA (AA) - Syrian regime forces have captured the eastern city of Deir ez-Zour from the Daesh terrorist group, according to Syrian state media and sources on the ground.

On Friday morning, Syria’s state-run General Organization of Radio and Television cited an unnamed military source as saying that the Syrian army and its allies had “entirely liberated” Deir ez-Zour after driving Daesh terrorists from their last remaining strongholds in the city.

The claims were echoed by Syria’s official SANA news agency, which has reported that army forces are now in firm control of Deir ez-Zour’s city center.

Local sources in the area, speaking anonymously due to concerns for their safety, confirmed the reports, but added that the city’s outskirts remained under the terrorist group’s control.

The Syrian regime first began its campaign to recapture Deir ez-Zour -- with the help of Russian air support and Iranian ground troops -- in early September.

Located near the Iraqi border, Deir ez-Zour city and its environs had remained under Daesh control since mid-2014, when the terrorist group overran vast swathes of territory in Syria and in neighboring Iraq.

Syria has just begun to emerge from a devastating civil war that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.