ISIS has send huge reinforcements to the area of Deir Ezzor, accoording to pro-government sources. Local sources estimate the total number of ISIS fighters that are set to be deployed is between 300 and 400.
AlMasdarNews says:
Most of the reinforcements are coming from villages in the Deir Ezzor countryside and from Iraq, primarily from Anbar Province where they are being routed by Iraqi forces.
Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that ISIS had been able to launch a successfull offensive in Deir Ezzor due to reinforcements from Iraq:
“The actions of the US-led coalition in the Iraqi city of Mosul have generally come down to squeezing major ISIL forces into eastern Syria,” he said, adding that ISIS “almost freely” deploys forces and weapons to Syria.
Thisweek, ISIS has made notable gains in a battle against the Syrian army in Deir Ezzor, but the group has also suffered major casualties. Up to 200 ISIS terroirsts have been reportedly killed or wounded in clashes the city since the start of the offensive there.
Palmyra needs to be sieged to alleviate the pressure on DeZ.
Methinks IS would gladly sacrifice Palmyra if it means taking Deir Ezzor. The city is of little importance, especially compared to Deir Ezzor, the taking of which would be a major morale boost to IS. Also taking Palmyra would mean a SAA advance on a narrow corridor, which IS has shown to be capable of cutting off.
Looks like Deir Ezzor is more important for ISIS than Mosul or Raqqah, Al Bab or Palmyra
It is more important to NATO/GCC – who want Syrian partition now Assad is staying put.
300 to 400 is called “massive”. This is unintelligent. What is 50 called then, “huge” and then what is a reinforcement of 5 called “regular sized reinforcement” Do not sacrifice honesty and “perspective” for “shock-effects” like the lying Zionist media tends to do. 300-400 is a larger number to tend with, and is a size worth noting and registering. However, this is a far cry from the 33,000,000 man army China has. Now that is realistically “massive” If Russia fields an army of 400,000 men to fend off a NATO army of 1.2 million men. This are “large” deployments. 300 men are not.