Syrian Army Retakes Hameema, Key Settlement on the Way to Deir ez-Zor (VIDEO)

The Syrian Army supported by its allies has taken control of the settlement of Hameema, located at the junction of the cities of Homs and Deir ez-Zor, the last stronghold of Daesh in Syria, thus advancing to the southern borders of the city. A military source in the Syrian government army told Sputnik Arabic details of the operation.

The source, a major in the Syrian armed forces, said that the Syrian ground forces simultaneously entered Hameema, located to the south of Deir ez-Zor, from three directions.

"There have been fierce clashes in the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor, in which Daesh militants used suicide bombers and cars filled with explosives to prevent the liberation of Hameema," he told Sputnik Arabic.

"The simultaneous assault from three directions as well as large open spaces and sparsity of buildings played into the hands of the Syrian Army as the militants had nowhere to concentrate," he added.

The Syrian major further said that the assault had been preceded by joint aerial strikes of Russian and Syrian aviation.

The recapture of Hameema, which is being called the "southern gates" of Deir ez-Zor, will considerably ease the lifting of the long-term siege of this city. Hameema also opens the road towards the cities of Abu Kamal and Mayadeen, which currently serve as footholds of Daesh in Deir ez-Zor province, close to the Iraqi border.

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On Friday, Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, the chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate, also said that the Syrian army supported by the Russian forces is focused on defeating the Daesh terror group in the area of Deir ez-Zor.

"The lifting of siege of this city will allow us to completely defeat the most combat-effective formations of the Daesh terror group in Syria," Rudskoy said during a round table discussion at the ARMY-2017 forum.

He added that the terrorists from the city of Raqqa and Iraq’s Mosul have been transferred to Deir ez-Zor.

After a number of large victories over Daesh in this region, the Syrian government forces have considerably expanded the area of their control. It includes Homs, which has been fully cleared from militants.