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THE Syrian army launched an offensive yesterday to lift the Isis siege of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.
The army’s 5th Legion and Tiger Forces broke through Isis lines east of Palmyra and pushed on towards Arak along the road to Deir Ezzor.
Isis seized control of Deir Ezzor province from the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels and its al-Qaida allies in April 2014 and has been trying to capture the government bastion of 200,000 people since then.
A series of air strikes by the US-led coalition on army positions last year allowed Isis to capture Mount Thardeh, overlooking the lifeline airport, and later cut it off from the city.
To the south of Palmyra, troops have resumed their push towards the Iraqi border following an FSA counterattack earlier this week.
Reinforcements arrived from Damascus on Thursday night in a bid to achieve a breakthrough.
Opening the Damascus-Baghdad road would give Syria a land route to its ally Iraq for the first time in years, as well as halting FSA efforts to strike east from the Jordanian border, where the insurgents receive training and aid from US and British troops.
In the north the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced the renewal of their offensive on the Isis stronghold of Raqqa after Washington agreed to supply heavy weapons.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that he was confident US President Donald Trump would reverse that policy when they meet at the White House next week.
