Syria says its troops liberated eastern city of IS militants
Deir el-Zour
This frame grab from a video released on Nov. 2  2017 by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows  a Syrian army tank firing during a battle against Islamic State militants in Deir el-Zour  Syria .  The Syrian army  announced on Friday  Nov. 3  it  liberated  the long-contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour  from the Islamic State group. (SANA via AP) (Associated Press)
DAMASCUS  Syria â  The Syrian army  announced on Friday  it  liberated  the long-contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour  from the Islamic State group  marking another defeat of the extremists as their self-proclaimed âcaliphateâ crumbles and almost all their urban strongholds in Syria and Iraq have been lost.
The recapture of  Deir el-Zour  on the west bank of the Euphrates River is also another victory for President Bashar Assadâs forces  though largely symbolic in the Syrian militaryâs bigger fight to capture most of the oil-rich province along the border with Iraq.
Deir el-Zour  which had been divided into a government-held and an IS-held part for nearly three years  is the largest city in eastern Syria and the capital of the province with the same name. It is also the largest to be recaptured by the Syrian government from IS.
The Syrian army  backed by Russia and Iran  and Kurdish-led Syrian forces  backed by the United States  are now racing to take the rest of the oil-rich eastern province of Deir el-Zour  including the key town of Boukamal near the Iraqi border.
Footage posted on the website of the Syrian state news agency SANA shows the last moments of the fighting between the Syrian army and IS in Deir el-Zour  including shelling by Syrian tanks and plumes of smoke rising over the cityâs IS-held and mostly destroyed neighborhoods of Jamiayat and Jabiliyeh before they were liberated.
This frame grab from a video released on Nov. 2  2017 by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows  a Syrian army tank firing during a battle against Islamic State militants in Deir el-Zour  Syria .  The Syrian army  announced on Friday  Nov. 3  it  liberated  the long-contested eastern city of  [TGT]   from the Islamic State group. (SANA via AP) (Associated Press)
DAMASCUS  Syria â  The Syrian army  announced on Friday  it  liberated  the long-contested eastern city of  [TGT]   from the Islamic State group  marking another defeat of the extremists as their self-proclaimed âcaliphateâ crumbles and almost all their urban strongholds in Syria and Iraq have been lost.
The recapture of  Deir el-Zour  on the west bank of the Euphrates River is also another victory for President Bashar Assadâs forces  though largely symbolic in the Syrian militaryâs bigger fight to capture most of the oil-rich province along the border with Iraq.
Deir el-Zour  which had been divided into a government-held and an IS-held part for nearly three years  is the largest city in eastern Syria and the capital of the province with the same name. It is also the largest to be recaptured by the Syrian government from IS.
The Syrian army  backed by Russia and Iran  and Kurdish-led Syrian forces  backed by the United States  are now racing to take the rest of the oil-rich eastern province of  [TGT] including the key town of Boukamal near the Iraqi border.
Footage posted on the website of the Syrian state news agency SANA shows the last moments of the fighting between the Syrian army and IS in  [TGT] including shelling by Syrian tanks and plumes of smoke rising over the cityâs IS-held and mostly destroyed neighborhoods of Jamiayat and Jabiliyeh before they were liberated.