Syrian regime forces break three-year-long Daesh siege on Deir Ezzor

Syrian regime forces on Tuesday reached troops besieged for years by Daesh in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, one of the militants' last major footholds, regime-run media said.

Tanks and troops had pressed quickly towards a government-held enclave in the city, where Daesh had encircled thousands of civilians and Syrian regime forces since 2014.

"The Syrian regime forces and its allies break the siege on Deir Ezzor," said a military media unit run by the regime's ally, Shia group Hezbollah.

State media and a war monitoring group also said that the advancing forces had linked up with the besieged troops at a garrison on the western edge of the city.

TRT World's Alican Ayanlar reports from the Turkey-Syria border town of Gaziantep.

Clearance operation

Daesh still controls much of Deir Ezzor province, including half the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said a nearby military air base in the south of the city and three adjacent neighbourhoods were still under siege by the militants.

Deir Ezzor provincial governor Mohammed Ibrahim Samra said regime troops were pushing towards the air base.

"Forces are trying to break the siege on the military airport as well," he said.

"The coming days will also see the clearing of the city of Deir Ezzor of militants and the start of advances on nearby countryside held by Daesh," he added.

The regime and its allies had made rapid advances in recent days and pushed through Daesh lines with the help of heavy artillery and Russian air strikes.

The city has been cut off from the regime-held areas since 2013, after rebel groups rose up against Syria's Assad.

Daesh then overran rebel positions and encircled the regime enclave and the nearby air base in the city in 2014.

During the long siege, high-altitude air drops have supplied the city.

The United Nations said in August it estimated there were 93,000 civilians in regime-held parts of Deir Ezzor city, where conditions were "extremely difficult."

Deir Ezzor is southeast of Daesh's former base of operations in Raqqa city, most of which has been captured in a separate offensive by the US-backed Syrian militias, made up of the YPG, which Turkey considers to be the Syrian branch of the PKK.

Daesh fighters are believed to have fled to towns around Deir Ezzor as they came under attack in Raqqa.

Both cities lie in oil-rich areas on the Euphrates river.