Violent fighting accompanied by aerial bombing on the southern banks of the Euphrates River east of Al-Raqqah

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the warplanes carried out dozens of strikes targeting areas controlled by ISIS on the southern banks of the Euphrates River, in the eastern countryside of Al-Raqqah, amid continuous violent clashes between the members of the organization on one hand, and regime forces and gunmen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities and the Russian trained-and-armed clan forces, on the other, amid exchange of shelling on the clash areas, and exploding booby trapped vehicles and explosive belts by the organizations on the contact areas between the both parties, while there is conflicting information about the ability of regime forces to achieve advancement in the area and regain the control of Ghanim Al-Ali and the villages which are between them and Al-Sabkha area which they lost days ago.

The SOHR published on Friday the 25th of August that it documented during the past 24 hours the death of more than 34 members of the regime forces and their allied militiamen and the arrest of others, one of whom was beheaded by a knife along with the injury of others, with varied degrees of severity. This came as a result of the attack launched by ISIS which enabled it to regain control over the areas extending from east of Ghanim Al-Ali town to Al-Sabkha area and to expand its scope of control to an area of 40 km of the southern banks of the Euphrates in the eastern countryside of Al-Raqqah. In addition, the regime forces which had reached the outskirts of Ma’dan city, the last city under the control of ISIS in al-Raqqah, are now 30 km away from its west.

The SOHR also documented the death of at least 12 ISIS members during this attack, which is considered the most violent counter attack targeting the regime forces at the southern banks of the Euphrates in the eastern countryside of Al-Raqqah. The SOHR published on the 5th of August 2017 that the regime forces took control of a number of villages and housing complexes located between Ghanim Al-Ali and Ma’dan city and that they were only 4 km away from the walls of Ma’dan city, which is considered the last city under the control of ISIS in Al-Raqqah Province. Such an important advancement was achieved under the cover of intensive violent missile strikes and shelling by the regime forces and raids carried out by the Russian and the regime’s warplanes, destroying hundreds of houses, shops, buildings, infrastructures and public utilities. The SOHR also published on the 29th of July 2017 that the regime forces managed to make a new strategic advancement as they took control of Ghanim Al-Ali town, located at the southern banks of the Euphrates in the eastern countryside of Al-Raqqah. In addition, they took control of villages located to its west and between Ghanim Al-Ali town and Al-Sharida village following the several withdrawals ISIS was forced to make before getting fully besieged by the regime forces backed by their allied militiamen and the tribal forces.