The commander of the 17th Reserve Division of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) – General Mohammad Khaddour – has issued a statement to the civilians in the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor that reaffirmed the Syrian Armed Forces’ commitment to their liberation from the armed gangs of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and their allies wrecking havoc in this province in eastern Syria.
This statement comes two weeks after multiple journalists in support of the Syrian Opposition started rumors that implied the Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade and the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard were being ordered to withdraw from the Deir Ezzor Governorate after the militants from ISIS allegedly captured most of the provincial capital and cutoff their only supply route to the province.
Al-Masdar News tackled these rumors earlier this week after contacting multiple sources in the Deir Ezzor Governorate; these sources not only denied the rumors, but also, claimed that these claims were nothing more than fabrications used to propagate the idea that the Syrian Armed Forces were falling apart around Syria.
One week after these rumors were published by a number western news networks, the SAA’s 137th and 104th Brigades captured the village of Al-Muri’iyah near the Deir Ezzor Military Airport; this village is critical to the militants from ISIS, who have struggled to infiltrate past the Syrian Armed Forces’ frontline defenses at the airport’s eastern flank.
In addition to their recent gains near the Deir Ezzor Military Airport, the SAA’s 137th Brigade recaptured part of the ISIS stronghold at the Al-Haweeqah District of the provincial capital, forcing the latter to withdraw some of their fighters to the Al-Husseiniyah District across the Euphrates River.
