The United States Central Command said it "does not seek to fight the Syrian regime, Russian or pro-regime forces partnered with them", but promised to take "appropriate measures" to protect US forces tasked with defeating the Islamic State group. Iranians anxious that, if the Americans manage to take what was left through their proxies, this would sever the Damascus-Baghdad Highway, which is the only route for Hezbollah arms and money transported by land from Iran to Lebanon, first through Iraq and then via Syria.
According to Channel 2 News' Ehud Yaari, the attacks were launched due to the Iranian militias' success in Syria and Iraq against the terrorist group.
ISIS hit Iran in its capital city this morning with two terror attacks that targeted major symbols of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On the Euphrates River between Raqqa and the Iraqi border, the city of Deir al-Zour is the largest urban center in eastern Syria.
The violence in Raqqa comes amid tensions in southeastern Syria where Syrian troops and their allies have been clashing with US -backed rebels near the border with Iraq. "For the United States, control of Deir al-Zour brings a bargaining chip for the future and ¬demonstrates to regional allies its willingness to challenge Iran, ¬after Trump promised to roll back the country's "rising ambition". "The problem is that even what the USA sees as limited goals clash with more ambitious Iranian ones".
The American troops are using the garrison in Deir al-Zour province to train Syrian rebels in the fight against so-called Islamic State, so that they are able to fight back once the USA withdraws.
The two forces have clashed regularly in the area, with USA aircraft twice striking Russian-backed forces the Pentagon said were threatening its local allies.
Syria's government has been eager to reach the eastern border after recapturing territory in central Homs province once held by ISIL, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and is also known as ISIS.
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To reach the province, both sides are moving through Syria's vast southern desert as they head for the Islamic State-held town of al-Bukamel.
In relevant remarks last month, Shamkhani stressed that terrorists in Syria have sustained huge damage due to his country's cooperation with Russian Federation in the anti-terrorism efforts.
"The first units of the army and its allies arrived to the Syrian-Iraqi border northeast of al-Tanf", said the non-Syrian commander in a military alliance fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
"We see the link clearly now".
They reached a point almost 50 km north of al-Tanf, after going through the desert around the area held by US-backed rebels, it said.
Turkey, a member of the western-Arab coalition that backs the insurgent groups, is cooperating with Iran and Russian Federation as guarantor states for the Syrian ceasefire. State production has dwindled throughout the war, from some 387,000 barrels per day to less than 10,000 now.
The Americans had blocked them through rebel groups in the area, the commander said, so the Syrian army and allied forces opened a new route and pressed on to the border. In photographs circulating on social media, a USA flag fluttered in the wind as fighters manned truck-mounted weapons.
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