Syrian army liberates ISIL's last major stronghold

DAMASCUS, (Patria) - The Syrian army, with the help of allied militias, has liberated Al Bukamal (Abu Kamal).

Iraqi and Syrian forces had officially joined forces earlier at the border near the Akash oil field. The terrorist group Islamic State then attempted a desperate counterattack to repel the Syrian-Iraqi forces, but without success.

With the permission of the Iraqi authorities, the offensive began from the direction of the recently liberated Al Qaim, i.e., Iraq. Allied Syrian-Iraqi forces pushed terrorists out of several villages on the southern side of Al Bukamal, as well as from the Ratka oil field to the east, bringing it into a semi-encirclement. They then broke into Al Bukamal itself, after which it seems the defense collapsed and most ISIL fighters fled the city.

This expelled the terrorist organization from the last major city it held in Syria. Al Bukamal also has huge strategic importance, as it ensures direct contact for the Syrian government with neighboring Iraq, something the Western coalition had been trying to prevent for years.

A major, perhaps decisive, role in this success of the army loyal to the regime in Damascus was played by the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi militias, the Shiite Kataib Hezbollah, and the mixed Shiite-Sunni volunteer formations Hashd Al-Sha’abi (PMU), organized to fight precisely against ISIL. Also, ISIL's defense lines in that area remained undefended after the rapid loss of Al Qaim, unlike the northwest direction towards Mayadeen.

At the same time, the Syrian Democratic Forces entered Markadah, one of the larger remaining settlements on the other side of the Euphrates.

The speed with which two very important cities, Al Qaim and Al Bukamal, were liberated speaks to the real power of ISIL, which seems to be a system collapse, according to Middle East analysts. The entire territory of Syria has not yet been completely liberated from ISIL, of course. The area on the right bank of the Euphrates from Mayadin to Al Bukamal remains, as well as the surrounding desert area that still reaches almost to Sukhnah.

Even the pro-American, predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces have not yet cleared the left bank of the Euphrates, but analysts believe that terrorists will have difficulty resisting for long. They have also lost a lot of weaponry, as the Syrian Army found huge supplies of military equipment, including many tanks, in Deir ez-Zor and Mayadeen. The remaining caliphate fighters will likely continue a guerrilla war for now, possibly for some time in an isolated and strategically unimportant enclave.

The liberation of Al Bukamal is the final confirmation of the collapse of the Islamic State in Syria as well as neighboring Iraq, according to military analysts.