Syrian troops are now at the gates of the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir ez-Zor, the governor of the province said, as the government forces continue to press forward, obliterating terrorist positions in the vicinity and on the outskirts of the city.

“The heroes of the army will arrive at Deir ez-Zor in 24-48 hours at the most,” the governor of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters, adding that the Syrian Army was only 18-20 kilometers (11-12 miles) away from the city.

Earlier, an elite unit of the Syrian Army, called the Tiger Forces, came within 18 kilometers (11 miles) of the besieged city after destroying IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist positions on the Bishri mountain chain, Al-Masdar News reported.

Despite massive redeployment of fighters and military hardware by the Islamic State terrorists from other parts of Iraq and Syria to Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian Army, with the help of the Russian Air Force, has been advancing toward the city on several fronts.

The key Euphrates city of Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years, after being cut off from government-held areas in May 2015 during the jihadists’ offensive on Palmyra. The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have since been supplied with food and ammunition via airdrops by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters.

On Sunday, the Syrian Army attacked IS barricades on the southwestern outskirts of the city, Sana news agency reported, killing several terrorists and seizing their weapons and ammunition.

“We carried out at dawn a successful raid against one of ISIS terrorists’ barricades in the direction of the Water Resources area through crawling and infiltrating it and throwing several bombs when we almost approached the area, killing all the terrorists at the site,” one of the soldiers told Sana.

The Syrian Army units have also expanded control in al-Badia, “eliminating the last gatherings of the organization in Hreibsha area that is located in the southwest of Deir Ezzor province.” According to Sana news agency, many terrorists have fled as the army is also advancing east of al-Sukhneh toward Deir ez-Zor.

The Russian Defense Ministry has previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria.

“ISIL militants are still attempting to stop the advancement of the Syrian troops by relocating to the Deir ez-Zor region armor, pick-up trucks with high-caliber machine guns mounted on them, weapons and ammunition. They are creating fortifications with positions for artillery and mortars,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported Saturday.

In response, the Russian forces in Syria intensified airstrikes on the jihadists, destroying their armored vehicles, tanks, artillery positions and supply depots.

 “Defeating ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor region and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat of the international terrorist group in Syria,” the ministry said.

On Saturday, the Russian Air Force also backed the swift actions of the army and its allies who have liberated the town of Akerbat – considered to be the last major terrorist stronghold in Hama province and central Syria.

Lifting the Deir ez-Zor blockade will “provide Syrian armed forces and their allies with a really stable foothold in this part of northeast Syria,” geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT.

“Strategically, you can’t say enough about how important this effort is right now,” he added. “Having a strategic partner like Russia with a viable air force, being able to coordinate targeting intelligence, being able to mount counter-insurgency efforts on the ground with air support, is incredible.”

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Steffan de Mistura, also expects all major IS positions in Syria to fall by the end of October.

“What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war… what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace,” de Mistura said on Friday. “And that is where the challenge starts at this very moment.” </s> Syrian troops are now at the gates of the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir ez-Zor, the governor of the province said, as the government forces continue to press forward, obliterating terrorist positions in the vicinity and on the outskirts of the city.

“The heroes of the army will arrive at Deir ez-Zor in 24-48 hours at the most,” the governor of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters, adding that the Syrian Army was only 18-20 kilometers (11-12 miles) away from the city.

Earlier, an elite unit of the Syrian Army, called the Tiger Forces, came within 18 kilometers (11 miles) of the besieged city after destroying IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist positions on the Bishri mountain chain, Al-Masdar News reported.

Despite massive redeployment of fighters and military hardware by the Islamic State terrorists from other parts of Iraq and Syria to Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian Army, with the help of the Russian Air Force, has been advancing toward the city on several fronts.

The key Euphrates city of Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years, after being cut off from government-held areas in May 2015 during the jihadists’ offensive on Palmyra. The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have since been supplied with food and ammunition via airdrops by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters.

On Sunday, the Syrian Army attacked IS barricades on the southwestern outskirts of the city, Sana news agency reported, killing several terrorists and seizing their weapons and ammunition.

“We carried out at dawn a successful raid against one of ISIS terrorists’ barricades in the direction of the Water Resources area through crawling and infiltrating it and throwing several bombs when we almost approached the area, killing all the terrorists at the site,” one of the soldiers told Sana.

The Syrian Army units have also expanded control in al-Badia, “eliminating the last gatherings of the organization in Hreibsha area that is located in the southwest of Deir Ezzor province.” According to Sana news agency, many terrorists have fled as the army is also advancing east of al-Sukhneh toward Deir ez-Zor.

READ MORE: ISIS terrorists pulling strongest units to Deir ez-Zor for last stand – Russian MoD

The Russian Defense Ministry has previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria.

“ISIL militants are still attempting to stop the advancement of the Syrian troops by relocating to the Deir ez-Zor region armor, pick-up trucks with high-caliber machine guns mounted on them, weapons and ammunition. They are creating fortifications with positions for artillery and mortars,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported Saturday.

In response, the Russian forces in Syria intensified airstrikes on the jihadists, destroying their armored vehicles, tanks, artillery positions and supply depots.

“Defeating ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor region and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat of the international terrorist group in Syria,” the ministry said.

On Saturday, the Russian Air Force also backed the swift actions of the army and its allies who have liberated the town of Akerbat – considered to be the last major terrorist stronghold in Hama province and central Syria.

Lifting the Deir ez-Zor blockade will “provide Syrian armed forces and their allies with a really stable foothold in this part of northeast Syria,” geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT.

“Strategically, you can’t say enough about how important this effort is right now,” he added. “Having a strategic partner like Russia with a viable air force, being able to coordinate targeting intelligence, being able to mount counter-insurgency efforts on the ground with air support, is incredible.”

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Steffan de Mistura, also expects all major IS positions in Syria to fall by the end of October.

“What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war… what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace,” de Mistura said on Friday. “And that is where the challenge starts at this very moment.” </s> As the Syrian Army, supported by the Russian Air Force, is on the verge of breaking the Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) siege of the city of Deir ez-Zor, RT takes a closer look at why this battle could become the beginning of the end for the terrorist group.

The Syrian governmental forces continue to successfully develop their offensive on Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a press release Monday. Units commanded by General Suheil al-Hassan moved another 8 kilometers closer to the city over the last 24 hours and “took control over two strategically important high points.”

The Syrian Army also drove Islamic State terrorists out from their positions near the road connecting Palmyra and Deir ez-Zor, the ministry said.

Russia continues to lend air support to the Syrian forces. In their most recent 80 sorties, the Russian Air Forces destroyed “two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, and more than 10 all-terrain vehicles with heavy weapons mounted on them. The terrorists lost more than 70 people," the ministry said.

“Crushing Islamic State forces in the Deir ez-Zor area and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat for the international terrorist group in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the statement says.

Islamic State defenses on the outkirts of Deir ez-Zor are effectively collapsing, Syria's SANA news agency reported, with the Syrian Air Force successfully destroying Islamic State headquarters in the Hweika neighborhood in the city's west, killing at least nine terrorist commanders, and inflicting heavy losses on the jihadists in the villages of Ayyash and Shmeitiyeh, forcing many to flee or surrender.

According to some reports, the units of the Syrian Army advancing on the city from the west are just 10 kilometers away from a military base of the government forces located in a western neighborhood of the city.

Earlier, the governor of Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters that the Syrian Army would arrive at the city “in 24-48 hours at the most.”

Retaking Deir ez-Zor is of great importance for the fight against Islamic State in no small part due to its strategic location. It is the largest city in eastern Syria and the seventh-largest city in the whole country.

Deir ez-Zor and the surrounding governorate of the same name are located on the Syrian border with Iraq, so, if captured by the governmental forces, they will leave Islamic State terrorists effectively trapped in the heart of Syria in their only remaining stronghold of Raqqa.

“It is the last staging point for this terrorist organization, there are no other huge cities or major towns” in the area controlled by Islamic State, Martin Jay, a Beirut-based journalist, told RT. He also said that the liberation of Deir ez-Zor would be a “turning point” in the Syrian war.

“Once the city is taken and the surrounding area is flushed out of ISIS fighters we can really start to talk about the end of the war and about a new chapter of possibly restoring peace in [Syria],” he said.

Liberating the city would also give the governmental forces strategic advantage over the terrorists as it will “provide Syrian armed forces and their allies with a really stable foothold in this part of northeast Syria,” geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT.

The terrorists also apparently understand the strategic importance of Deir ez-Zor as they repeatedly pulled their strongest units and heavy weapons to the area, preparing for the last stand, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“The remaining [terrorist] forces are heading there. According to our data, militants from Mosul [in Iraq] moved there and the most battle-ready units from Raqqa,” General Sergey Rudskoy, spokesman for the Russian General Staff, said in late August.

A week later, the ministry said that the extremists also moved “tanks, all-terrain vehicles with high-caliber weapons and mortars mounted on them” to the Deir ez-Zor area, adding that the actions of the jihadists apparently show that they “recognize the fact that the staging area around Deir ez-Zor is the last stronghold of the international terrorists on the Syrian soil.”

The extremists’ efforts have so far been futile as the Syrian Army supported by Russian warplanes already defeated "the most capable and best armed group of ISIL in the Euphrates River valley,” according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In the battle that took place on August 27, 800 terrorists and dozens of vehicles and heavy weapons were destroyed by the Syrian forces actively supported by Russian aircraft, the ministry said at that time.

On September 3, the ministry said that “the last major pocket of terrorist resistance in central Syria has been eliminated” during the battle over the strategic town of Akerbat in Hama governorate.

“The operation to destroy a large group of Islamic State fighters in the eastern part of the Hama province was carried out with the active support of the Russian Air Force” that destroyed terrorist strongholds and their armored hardware as well as IS artillery positions, control points and communication outposts, the ministry said.

A day earlier, Moscow said that once the Deir ez-Zor blockade is lifted, the terrorists’ strategic defeat in Syria will be imminent. In mid-August, the Russian defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, said that the fall of Islamic State in Deir ez-Zor would signal the end of the extremist group.

“Today there are key points, including Deir ez-Zor. I would say, first of all, Deir ez-Zor,” he said at that time, adding that “this is perhaps the main point at the Euphrates, which will in many ways indicate the end of the fight against ISIS.”



This assessment was also shared by the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who said on September 1 that he expected the remaining Islamic State strongholds to fall within the next two months.

“What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war… what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace,” the diplomat told BBC radio.

Apart from its strategic importance for the military defeat of IS, ending the siege of Deir ez-Zor would also have a significant economic effect and become a great relief for thousands of people currently trapped in the city surrounded by jihadists.

Deir ez-Zor is the capital of an oil-rich eastern Syrian province and the center of the Syrian oil industry that once served as a source of wealth to Islamic State as it captured the area and besieged the city. Depriving terrorists of these resources would be another significant blow for the extremist group.

It might also be one of the sources of revival of the Syrian economy following the end of the war. Some of the oil and gas fields in the province have already been liberated as the Syrian Army was pushing forward toward the city.

A key Euphrates city, Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years, after being cut off from government-held areas in May 2015 during the jihadists’ offensive on Palmyra. Islamic State terrorists effectively blocked all commercial and humanitarian access into the city, trapping hundreds of thousands of civilians with little or no means to survive.

Between 93,000 and 125,000 civilians are still reportedly trapped in the city, living under appalling conditions, according to different estimates.

The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have since been supplied with food and ammunition via airdrops by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters.

“May God make them victorious, and may He make ISIS humiliated. May God make us free of (ISIS) by the will of our army. I salute our army and president,” one resident told RT in August.

“We wouldn't have sat here without the Syrian Arab Army, we are sleeping while the army is protecting us,” another civilian added.

Encouraged by reports that the lifting of the blockade was days away, the people in the city celebrated the news late on September 3. </s> Syrian troops are now at the gates of the Islamic State-besieged city of Deir ez-Zor, the governor of the province said, as the government forces continue to press forward, obliterating terrorist positions in the vicinity and on the outskirts of the city.the governor of Syria's Deir ez-Zor province, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters, adding that the Syrian Army was only 18-20 kilometers (11-12 miles) away from the city.Earlier, an elite unit of the Syrian Army, called the Tiger Forces, came within 18 kilometers (11 miles) of the besieged city after destroying IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist positions on the Bishri mountain chain, Al-Masdar News reported Despite massive redeployment of fighters and military hardware by the Islamic State terrorists from other parts of Iraq and Syria to Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian Army, with the help of the Russian Air Force, has been advancing toward the city on several fronts.The key Euphrates city of Deir ez-Zor has been under terrorist siege for two and a half years, after being cut off from government-held areas in May 2015 during the jihadists' offensive on Palmyra. The surrounded city, alongside a neighboring military base and airfield, have since been supplied with food and ammunition via airdrops by Russian and Syrian transport planes and helicopters.On Sunday, the Syrian Army attacked IS barricades on the southwestern outskirts of the city, Sana news agency reported, killing several terrorists and seizing their weapons and ammunition."We carried out at dawn a successful raid against one of ISIS terrorists' barricades in the direction of the Water Resources area through crawling and infiltrating it and throwing several bombs when we almost approached the area, killing all the terrorists at the site," one of the soldiers told Sana.The Syrian Army units have also expanded control in al-Badia, "eliminating the last gatherings of the organization in Hreibsha area that is located in the southwest of Deir Ezzor province."The Russian Defense Ministry has previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria."ISIL militants are still attempting to stop the advancement of the Syrian troops by relocating to the Deir ez-Zor region armor, pick-up trucks with high-caliber machine guns mounted on them, weapons and ammunition. They are creating fortifications with positions for artillery and mortars," the Russian Defense Ministry reported Saturday.In response, the Russian forces in Syria intensified airstrikes on the jihadists, destroying their armored vehicles, tanks, artillery positions and supply depots.On Saturday, the Russian Air Force also backed the swift actions of the army and its allies who have liberated the town of Akerbat - considered to be the last major terrorist stronghold in Hama province and central Syria.Lifting the Deir ez-Zor blockade will "provide Syrian armed forces and their allies with a really stable foothold in this part of northeast Syria," geopolitical analyst Patrick Henningsen told RT.The UN's special envoy for Syria, Steffan de Mistura, also expects all major IS positions in Syria to fall by the end of October."What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war... what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace," de Mistura said on Friday. "And that is where the challenge starts at this very moment."Encouraged by reports that the lifting of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) blockade of Deir ez-Zor was days away, defenders of the city celebrated the news on Sunday night, as footage from inside the city shows.The video was reportedly shot in the Jura district of the city, which has been besieged by the Islamic State terrorist group since 2014.Syrian government forces are advancing from several directions to break the blockade of the provincial capital, with the Russian Air Force supporting the offensive from the air. </s> The Syrian Army on Tuesday reached outside the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, one of the Islamic State group’s footholds, according to state media Sana news agency. The Syrian government forces have been backed by Russian air support to reclaim the city.

Nearly 93,000 civilians have been trapped in the city since 2015, according to BBC. The air strikes have destroyed several vehicles belonging to the Islamic State group.

The Army has advanced on the Brigade 137 base front on the western side of Deir Ezzor city, the news agency said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that the security forces are currently 15 kilometres away from the city, AFP reported.

Deir al-Zor provincial governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said the government troops were trying to break the siege on the military airport as well, Reuters reported. “The coming days will also see the clearing of the city of Deir al-Zor [of the Islamic State group],” he added.

In August, the Bashar al-Assad’s Army had captured al-Sukhna from the terror outfit after heavy artillery firing and airstrikes by Russia. </s> BEIRUT, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Syria's army and its allies raced towards their enclave in the Euphrates city of Deir al-Zor after a rapid advance on Sunday, seeking to relieve it after years of Islamic State siege as jihadist defences suddenly collapsed.

Deir al-Zor's provincial governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters in a phone interview that he expected the army to arrive at the city within hours and that some people there had taken to the streets to demonstrate their happiness.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has focused this year on the campaign in Syria's desert, striking eastwards in a multi-pronged assault to restore Deir al-Zor, where Islamic State has held half the city and all the land around since 2014.

Sunday's advance brought the army and its allies to about 10 km (6 miles) from the city, said the military media unit run by the army's ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah group. On Friday, it reported the army was still 30 km (19 miles) away after capturing Jebel al-Bashri.

A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the army had advanced even farther, reaching the border of the besieged garrison's army camp on the western edge of Deir al-Zor.

Intense fighting is taking place as the army attempts to break through Islamic State lines to join up with the besieged garrison, the Observatory reported.

It is a sign of the rapidly changing fortunes in Syria's civil war, as Assad, aided by Russian air strikes and Iran-backed Shi'ite militias including Hezbollah, has won a series of battlefield victories.

Islamic State, which took advantage of chaos caused by the civil war to seize swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, is retreating in both countries and falling back on its Euphrates valley strongholds on either side of Deir al-Zor.

The United Nations says there are about 93,000 people in the besieged, government-controlled enclave, which includes much of the city, the Brigade 137 military camp and the airport.

For years, Deir al-Zor has been supplied only by air, and the United Nations said last month it had carried out about 300 high-altitude air drops of food over the past year alone.

Syrian state television reported that Islamic State was in a state of collapse in the face of the army's progress. A Syrian military source said on Saturday the army had also advanced eastwards from Sukhna, on the main road between Damascus and Deir al-Zor, along a parallel route of attack.

Pro-government forces are also fighting to eradicate a large Islamic State enclave they left to their rear in central Syria as they advanced towards Deir al-Zor. </s> Two Russian servicemen have been killed in mortar shelling conducted by Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) terrorists, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed.

“The contract soldiers were escorting a vehicle convoy of the Russian Center for Reconciliation,” RIA Novosti reported a ministry official as saying, adding that the convoy was subjected to “mortar shelling by Islamic State terrorists while moving through the Deir ez-Zor province.”

One soldier was killed at the scene while the second one suffered severe injuries in the shelling and succumbed to his wounds in the hospital. Both servicemen were recommended for decoration posthumously, the ministry added.

The incident took place as the Syrian Army pushes forward with its offensive seeking to liberate the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, the capital of the similarly-named province, where the shelling occurred.

The province’s governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters earlier Monday that the governmental forces could break the siege and enter the city as soon as “in 24-48 hours.”

According to some reports, some units of the Syrian Army are just 10 kilometers away from the military base of the governmental forces located in the western neighborhood of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry previously stated that breaking the blockade of Deir ez-Zor will mark the defeat of the last capable grouping of IS terrorists in Syria. “Defeating ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor region and lifting the blockade of the city will signify a strategic defeat of the international terrorist group in Syria,” the ministry said.

The Russian Air Force also intensified its air strikes targeting the terrorists’ positions in the area. The Russian warplanes made 80 sorties over the last 24 hours and “destroyed two tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, more than 10 all-terrain vehicles with heavy weapons mounted on them,” the ministry said earlier Monday, adding that 70 terrorists were killed and injured in the air strikes.

In the meantime, the Syrian SANA news agency reported that the Syrian Air Forces successfully destroyed Islamic State headquarters in the Hweika neighborhood in western Deir ez-Zor, killing at least nine commanders of the terrorists. </s> Syria's army and its allies raced towards their enclave in the Euphrates city of Deir al-Zor after a rapid advance on Sunday, seeking to relieve it after years of Islamic State siege as jihadist defences suddenly collapsed.

BEIRUT: Syria's army and its allies raced towards their enclave in the Euphrates city of Deir al-Zor after a rapid advance on Sunday, seeking to relieve it after years of Islamic State siege as jihadist defences suddenly collapsed.

Deir al-Zor's provincial governor, Mohammed Ibrahim Samra, told Reuters in a phone interview that he expected the army to arrive at the city within hours and that some people there had taken to the streets to demonstrate their happiness.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has focused this year on the campaign in Syria's desert, striking eastwards in a multi-pronged assault to restore Deir al-Zor, where Islamic State has held half the city and all the land around since 2014.

Sunday's advance brought the army and its allies to about 10 km (6 miles) from the city, said the military media unit run by the army's ally, Lebanon's Hezbollah group. On Friday, it reported the army was still 30 km (19 miles) away after capturing Jebel al-Bashri.

A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the army had advanced even farther, reaching the border of the besieged garrison's army camp on the western edge of Deir al-Zor.

Intense fighting is taking place as the army attempts to break through Islamic State lines to join up with the besieged garrison, the Observatory reported.

It is a sign of the rapidly changing fortunes in Syria's civil war, as Assad, aided by Russian air strikes and Iran-backed Shi'ite militias including Hezbollah, has won a series of battlefield victories.

Islamic State, which took advantage of chaos caused by the civil war to seize swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, is retreating in both countries and falling back on its Euphrates valley strongholds on either side of Deir al-Zor.

The United Nations says there are about 93,000 people in the besieged, government-controlled enclave, which includes much of the city, the Brigade 137 military camp and the airport.

For years, Deir al-Zor has been supplied only by air, and the United Nations said last month it had carried out about 300 high-altitude air drops of food over the past year alone.

Syrian state television reported that Islamic State was in a state of collapse in the face of the army's progress. A Syrian military source said on Saturday the army had also advanced eastwards from Sukhna, on the main road between Damascus and Deir al-Zor, along a parallel route of attack.

Pro-government forces are also fighting to eradicate a large Islamic State enclave they left to their rear in central Syria as they advanced towards Deir al-Zor. </s> BEIRUT, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces Alliance reached an industrial zone miles to the east of Deir al-Zor city in rapid advances against Islamic State militants on Sunday, it said in a statement.

The SDF announced on Saturday it had launched an operation against the jihadists in northern and eastern parts of Deir al-Zor province, which borders Iraq.

The advances bring the SDF to within 15 km (10 miles) of the Syrian army and its allies, which this week broke a years-long Islamic State siege of government-held parts of Deir al-Zor on the other side of the Euphrates river. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
Syrian state television reports the Syrian Army reaches a point 3 kilometers from Deir ez-Zor, a city besieged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant since 2014.