The Syrian army announced Friday that it has liberated the long-contested eastern city of Deir el-Zour from the Islamic State group, a largely symbolic victory in the military's fight to capture remaining IS strongholds in the oil-rich province along the border with Iraq.
An anonymous Syrian military source told Reuters, "The armed forces, in cooperation with allied forces, liberated the city of Deir el-Zour completely from the clutches of the Daesh terrorist organization," using the Arabic acronym for Islamic state.
In a statement, the military said it was now in full control of the city, after a weeks-long campaign carried out with allied forces. It said army units were now removing booby traps and mines left behind by the extremist group in the city.
Deir el-Zour had been divided into a government-held and an IS-held part for nearly three years.
Syrian government forces and their pro-government allies first broke the militant group's siege of their part of the city in September in a Russian-backed offensive, and have been advancing against IS positions since then.
The development is the latest significant defeat for IS as the militant group sees its self-proclaimed “caliphate” crumble and lose almost all urban strongholds.
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, including the key town of Boukamal near the Iraqi border. Deir el-Zour is the provincial capital of the province with the same name.
Deir al-Zour is the center of Syrian oil production and is eastern Syria's largest and most important city.
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