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US Airdrops Forces in East Syria…‘Desert Volcano’ Launched | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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An internally displaced Syrian boy who fled Raqqa city, rests on a vehicle loaded with belongings, inside a camp in Ain Issa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria May 2, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said


Beirut- The US-led international coalition forces have conducted an airdrop of forces in east Syria against ISIS, killing eight militants, as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) kicked off its “desert volcano” battle to remove “Iranian militias” from the so-called triangle area where the borders of Jordan, Syria and Iraq meet.

The opposition “Syrian Media Committee” reported on Tuesday that coalition forces “conducted a new airdrop operation in al-Humayda area in the Bukamal city of the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, and killed 8 ISIS members.”

Meanwhile, the founder of the Euphrates Post, Ahmad al-Ramadan, explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that “two US helicopters conducted the rapid airdrop operation and clashed with the organization’s (ISIS) members, killing eight of them.”

Ramadan said that similar operations, currently taking place in east Deir Ezzor, mainly target ISIS officials and militants who escaped from Iraq.

Also, sources at the Pentagon said that ISIS members reinforced their positions in Deir Ezzor two months ago, adding that “hundreds of the organization’s members had left the city of Raqqa in the direction of al-Mayadeen area, located 50 kilometers southeast of Deir Ezzor.”

The sources also said that by escaping to those areas, ISIS militants would not be spared from the attacks of coalition forces.

Meanwhile, the so-called ‘Jaysh al-Ashaer’ (the Free Tribes Army), affiliated with the FSA, kicked off on Tuesday a new battle known as “desert volcano” to “oust Iranian and other foreign militias fighting alongside regime forces in the Syrian Desert.”

In a statement issued late Monday, the Tribes Army said their operation aims to “expel foreign militias and to purify the area by eliminating them.”

They added: “We, the factions of the Free Syrian Army, announce the start of the battles against those criminal organizations to recuperate our land, in which we offered and would offer bloodbaths and sacrifices.”