ISIS Shells East Syria City, Killing 14 Civilians

Attacks Targeted Last Govt-Held District in Deir Ezzor

As they continue to lose ground to Syrian forces elsewhere in the country, ISIS forces are trying to gain some territory in the capital of the Deir Ezzor Province, launching heavy shelling into the last government-held district with an eye toward seizing it.

At least 14 civilians were reported killed and 40 others wounded in the attacks. Deir Ezzor is mostly held by ISIS, and they also hold materially the whole province, but the Syrian government holds a bit of the capital city leading toward a military air base, which ISIS has repeatedly failed to take.

ISIS has long considered taking Deir Ezzor air base as a top priority, as the base is used by Syria for military operations in the country’s east. Locals say that most of the wounded are not gravely so, but that medicine is in short supply, which may make recovery difficult.

As ISIS loses ground elsewhere, they are finding themselves increasingly consolidated down into eastern Syria, and appear to be very eager to continue to push on the frontier with an eye toward both spreading out the battle along several different fronts, and to reclaim  some lost areas.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.