In 15 weeks, the regime forces advance at the expense of ISIS controlling an area larger than the size of the organization-held areas in Syria

About 34 thousand km restored by the regime forces since May 2017 after taking advantage of the de-escalation agreement

 

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 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has been monitoring since the second half of 2016 until July 2017, a significant change in the expansion of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, with the support of Russia and Iran, the Syria Democratic Forces are expanding their control, and the entry of the Turkish forces to Syrian territory and their involvement with the factions they supported in a military operation, all of that have blocked the last remaining doors for the “Islamic State” organization with the outside world, in addition to the great retreat for the “Islamic State” organization in many areas, also in many areas the regime forces were able to regain control of areas after besieging them and agreeing with those in charge of these cities, towns and areas on “situation settlement or displacement”