Syrian Forces Reach Euphrates River

The Syrian government successful offensive in Deir ez-Zor this week pushed it ahead in the race against American-backed Kurdish-led allies.

The Syrian Arab Army is planning to cross the Euphrates in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate after liberating several areas along the western bank of this vast river.

The Syrian Army reinforcements were seen, Thursday, transporting several boats to the Deir ez-Zor Governorate for what is expected to be the government’s first attempt during this war to cross the Euphrates and push into these eastern territories.

Crossing the Euphrates River will provide the Syrian Army many advantages, including the ability to cutoff Daesh main supply line and obstruct the US expansion into the Deir ez-Zor Governorate.

For the Syrian Army, allowing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture this part of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate would be disastrous because it would give the Americans control of the most important border-crossing into Iraq.

According to media reports, the Syrian Army’s High Command views the liberation of the Deir ez-Zor border-city of Albukamal as an imperative military endeavor that cannot be dictated by the US Coalition and their allies.

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition said it is monitoring the army to ensure it does not cross a de-confliction zone established across the city.

"We do monitor and watch where they are and where they are going at the same time as they move closer to the middle of the Euphrates Valley," Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the US-led coalition against Daesh, told Voice Of America on Thursday.

Dillon added that the coalition warplanes were continuing to strike ISIL (also Daesh) positions in Deir ez-Zor as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces partnered with local tribal militias in preparation for an attack from the northeast of the de-confliction line.

The de-confliction zone in Deir ez-Zor was established between the US and Russia in late 2015 to separate their areas of operation in Syria and prevent inadvertent clashes between the two sides.

The vast line starts from the town of Tabqa, roughly 45 kilometers west of Daesh's self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa, and extends parallel to the Euphrates River that runs across Deir ez-Zor toward al-Bukamal town bordering Iraq. It has divided Deir ez-Zor province and city into two parts; SDF operates north and east of the line, and the Syrian government troops and their allied militias are in the west and south.

Hence, world media called removal of Deir ez-Zor siege, end of Daesh and a sign of Syria government ability to recapture all areas it missed in the past six years.