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Deir al-Zour-Damascus Highway in Regime’s Grip

Syrian pro-regime forces hold a position near the village of al-Maleha, in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour, on September 9, 2017. (AFP)
Syrian pro-regime forces hold a position near the village of al-Maleha, in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour, on September 9, 2017. (AFP)
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Deir al-Zour-Damascus Highway in Regime’s Grip

Syrian pro-regime forces hold a position near the village of al-Maleha, in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour, on September 9, 2017. (AFP)
Syrian pro-regime forces hold a position near the village of al-Maleha, in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour, on September 9, 2017. (AFP)

Syrian regime forces were able on Sunday to completely lift the siege of Deir al-Zour after controlling the international highway linking the city to Damascus.

“Regime forces were able to achieve a strategic advancement today (Sunday) by breaking the siege of neighborhoods inside Deir al-Zour,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Observatory added that regime forces arrived to the western entrance of the city, controlled the Deir al-Zour-Damascus road and crossed the Maqabir area to the Deir al-Zour military airport, only a few days after lifting the Brigade 137 siege.

The military achievement against ISIS came amid reports that at least 34 civilians were killed and several others injured when Russian warplanes attacked buses carrying civilians, who were traveling to the eastern bank of the Euphrates River near Deir al-Zour city.

The Observatory said that residents in the area were now using buses to move between the western and the eastern banks of the Euphrates River after most of the bridges over the river had been shelled during the past months.

Meanwhile, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) reached on Sunday a hilltop that lies seven kilometers from the eastern bank of the Euphrates across from Deir al-Zour city, the Observatory said.

The SDF announced on Saturday it had begun clearing ISIS militants from areas east of the Euphrates.

On Sunday, their forces surprised ISIS militants in the industrial city of Deir al-Zour and were able to reach its first streets.

Director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that the real battle between ISIS and SDF forces has not yet started.

“The advancement that was achieved until now is limited to the desert areas and the hilltops in the absence of any clashes,” Abdel Rahman added.

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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city, said Reuters.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed fighters and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.
Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.
The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.
Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was "a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".
The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October that triggered the Gaza war, at least 660 Palestinian combatants and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian tallies, some by Israeli troops and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out frequent attacks on Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran provides weapons and support to militant factions in the West Bank - under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war - and the military has as a result cranked up its operations there.