The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Regime forces restore control over 2000 sq km within the largest siege in the Syrian Desert and continue sweeping its hills and heights

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the regime forces and their allied militiamen managed to restore control over the whole besieged circle located between the west of siege line extending from al-Taybah to al-Sukhnah in the east, and from Ithriyah to Jebel al-Sha’er in the west, where reliable sources asserted to the Syrian Observatory that the regime forces managed to archive strategic and big advancement and control vast area from the Syrian desert in the northeastern countryside of Homs, which is estimated to be about 2 thousand square kilometers.

The reliable sources asserted to the Syrian Observatory that the regime forces​​ managed during the past hours to cleanse tens of hills, positions and areas used to be controlled by the “Islamic State” organization in the western desert of al-Sukhnah, while other sources told the Syrian Observatory that the organization withdrew most of its fighters before the completion of the siege of the area, for fear of trapping them in the siege after the regime forces encircle the area. The regime forces and their allied militiamen of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities continue sweeping the area for searching for pockets of the “Islamic State” organization.

The SOHR published yesterday night that the regime forces managed to advance and control a mountain located west of al-Sukhnah city within the besieged area, and there is information about causalities caused by the shelling and the clashes and the targeting between both parties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 23rd of August that it learned that regime forces managed to achieve strategic advancement, and take control of Dahiq mountain “Dahik mountain”, these forces who advance from Al-Taybah area to the south also managed to meet regime forces in the north of Al-Sukhnah, to impose the largest siege on ISIS, which besiege thousands of the remaining kilometers controlled by ISIS in the west of Al-Sukhnah and this line of encirclement with the first besieged circle which includes the eastern countryside of Hama with the part which is connected with it of the eastern countryside of Homs, in the mountains of Shomariyyeh and Jib Al-Jarah countryside and the west of Jabal Sha’ir.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 19th of August 2017 that the de-escalation agreement in Syria completes its 15th week on a row, since its implementation on the 6th of May 2017  in the areas extending from Idlib to Daraa including the areas controlled by the rebel and Islamic factions and excluded the areas controlled by ISIS, while the ongoing agreement witnessed an escalation of military operations by the regime forces against ISIS in the Syrian Desert and other nearby areas, achieving an advancement at the expense of the organization in 6 provinces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the military operations of the regime forces against the “Islamic State” organization in the Syrian areas, as the regime forces managed to restore control of tens of thousands of square kilometers, and they approached to end the presence of “Islamic State” organization in two new provinces, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented that the regime forces and their allied militiamen of Syrian, Iraqi, Iranian, Lebanese, Afghan and Palestinian nationalities, and with the air cover of Russian and the regime’s warplanes, managed to restore control over an area of about 34 thousand square kilometers of the areas controlled by the organization in Syria. The regime advanced in all of this area at the expense of the organization, and this advancement took place since the beginning of May 2017 until today the 18th of August 2017 in the province of Aleppo, Rif Dimashq, Homs, Hama, al-Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor. During this period, the regime forces advanced at the expense of the organization in addition to their control over 5 thousand square kilometers of the Syrian territories at the expense of the rebel and Islamic factions, and thus the total area in which the regime forces advanced since May 2017 until now is more than 39 thousand square kilometers, as the presence of the organization has been completely ended in the province of Aleppo, while the organization still controls areas in Homs, Hama, and the countryside of al-Raqqa, and the regime forces-held areas has become more than 77 thousand square kilometers of the whole area of the Syrian territories, with a control percentage of about 42% of the geographical area of Syria.

This large advancement of the regime forces within 15 weeks exceeds the area controlled by the regime forces in entire Syria during the months preceding it. The SOHR learned that the Russian and Syrian regime forces made use of the de-escalation agreement in Syria, and the regime forces mobilized all of their forces and the militiamen allied to them of Syrian, Arab and Asian nationalities, and focused and directed their battles strongly in the Syrian desert, and the regime forces now has become close to implement a new siege of thousands of square kilometers of the desert, after they managed to advance and completely siege the eastern countryside of Hama, and the area linked to it in the areas of Jub al-Jerah and al-Shumaria Mountains in the eastern countryside of Homs, the regime forces, after advancing in areas south of Ithriyah and going deep into the borders of Hama with Homs province, near Sha’er Mountain in the eastern desert of Homs, managed to achieve a new strategic advancement and managed to meet their forces coming from Sha’er Mountain, and hence the regime forces were able to impose the first siege on the “Islamic State” organization in the Syrian Desert, and encircled about an area of 3 thousand kilometer square controlled by the organization that includes about 50 village and several oil and gas fields and wells, this area is extending from the fronts of Jub al-Jarrah and al-Shomariyyeh Mountain, which is about 50 km square away from Homs city to the fronts of the countryside of the western and northwest countryside of Salamiyah and Sha’er Mountain front. This encirclement comes within the greatest encirclement the regime forces are trying to implement which would besiege the organization in area of thousands of kilometers in size controlled by the organization in the Syrian Desert in the provinces of Homs and Hama.