Syrian Arab Army reaches At-Tanf border crossing

The Syrian Arab Army has reached the At-Tanf border crossing with Iraq.

This has effectively cut the US-backed Free Syrian Army off from its objective of securing the Syrian-Iraqi border from its bases in northern Jordan. This means that the US will be unable to partition eastern Syria from west, and the Syrian Arab Army will be able to achieve its objective of securing Deir Ez-Zor city.

The Russian planned de-escalation zones have stopped most of the fighting in the west of Syria. Together with securing Aleppo from Opposition forces and letting the last of the rebels in Homs city leave for Idlib, an enormous number of Syrian Arab Army soldiers have been freed for Operation Great Dawn, a campaign to join up besieged Deir Ez-Zor city to the rest of Syria. The results of this campaign have been staggering.

Over the course of the past month, hundreds of square kilometres have been liberated by the Syrian Arab Army. Palmyra is completely secured from ISIS; the Palmyra-Damascus highway has been cleared; border crossings with Iraq have begun to be secured; and, best of all, thousands more troops are arriving at Palmyra as this article is being written.

Though US forces have been allowing ISIS to move its forces from Raqqa and Iraq into Deir Ez-Zor and Homs provinces, the Syrian Arab Army has proven more than a match for ISIS. With thousands more Syrian troops and allies now stationed at Palmyra, we are likely to see the big push for Deir Ez-Zor come to a head. In the next couple of months, it is safe to say Deir Ez-Zor city will be secured by the Syrian Arab Army pushing to reach it.