Pro-government Forces Close to Besieging ISIS in Deir Ezzor City

Pro-government forces have almost encircled the so-called Islamic State in Deir Ezzor city, more than three weeks after first breaching a three-year militant siege on the area, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Citing Syrian state media, the AP said that Syrian troops and allied forces are fighting militants in a village on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river, just opposite the last remaining jihadi pocket in the city.

Capturing the village of al-Husseiniyeh would allow pro-government forces to completely besiege ISIS in the provincial capital, the AP said, citing the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Although it has lost significant ground in Deir Ezzor’s provincial capital, ISIS is still in control of most of the province and commands two major strongholds in the areas of Boukamal and Mayadeen, south of Deir Ezzor city.

According to Deir Ezzor 24, an activist-run media outlet that monitors developments in the province through a network of people on the ground, the militant group controls roughly 63.9 percent of Deir Ezzor. Meanwhile, pro-government forces and the SDF control 19.2 and 16.9 percent respectively.

Civil Defense: More Than 150 Civilians Killed in Idlib

Rescue workers in Idlib province said that Russian and Syrian warplanes have killed at least 150 civilians in the rebel stronghold in over a week of intense shelling, Reuters reported.

The northern province of Idlib witnessed a period of calm after it was designated a de-escalation zone in May, but fierce bombardment has resumed there in recent weeks. Russian warplanes have carried out an intense airstrike campaign as part of a counterattack against a militant offensive on government positions in nearby Hama earlier this month.

“We have pulled 152 bodies and we have rescued 279 civilians since the Russian and regime bombing campaign,” Salem Abu al-Azem, a senior rescue worker with the opposition-run Civil Defense in Idlib – also known as the White Helmets – told Reuters.

Russia’s defense ministry said this week that its airstrikes on Syria’s northern Idlib province have targeted insurgent militant groups only and not civilians.

Also on Wednesday, Russia’s defense ministry said that one of its airstrikes killed five senior members of the al-Qaida-linked Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham alliance in southern Idlib, the AP reported.

The statement did not mention when the attack took place but said that the five included “the leader of the group’s unit in south Idlib province, a financial chief, and an adviser to one of the group’s ideologues, Saudi cleric Abdullah al-Muhaysini,” the AP said.

De Mistura Calls for Eighth Round of Peace Talks

The eighth round of peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition will take place in around a month, the U.N.’s special envoy for Syria announced on Wednesday, according to the AP.

In remarks delivered to the U.N. Security Council, Staffan de Mistura said that this fresh round of talks should address “genuine negotiations on the political future” of Syria.

He also said that both the opposition and the government should take the time leading up to the talks to create conditions for a “meaningful” discussion and to participate “without preconditions.”

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