Now, it’s refugees from the town of es-Sukhna, the largest outpost of ISIS in the Homs Governorate, which the Syrian government army liberated this week, that are looking for their relatives. Now, the road to Deir ez-Zor is open. It’s been in a state of siege since 2014, and it’s the last serious bulwark of militants on Syrian territory. Alexander Rudenko reporting.
These are my children. Senior son Hussein, middle son Mohammed, and the youngest — Hasan. For the first time in many years, they are on the threshold of their own house and in a house in general. The boys lived in a basement during the whole war. Their father Abdel Abu hid the kids from militants, so that they wouldn’t be forced to join ISIS.
Many of his neighbors who did the same are no longer alive. I personally know several families from which boys under ten were taken. Militants brainwashed children and taught them how to kill people. Their parents were shot. Before the war in Mesken, which is located on the border of the Governorates of Raqqa and Aleppo, there were 50 thousand people.
Now, there are no more than 100 families. The houses turned into a pile of stones. In many yards of Mesken, you can find tunnels. The militants dug them with jackhammers. They are about 5-6 meters deep. Without the camera light, it’s dark and humid. Here, the militants waited for artillery shelling to stop, and when the city was calm, they used the tunnels for hostages. Cruel battles near oil fields in the north-east of the country. The troops of Assad, with the support of the Russian aviation, are moving steadily towards Deir ez-Zor. There, to the east of the country, large forces of militants are coming, fleeing from the factually lost Mosul and Raqqa.
Another important victory of the Syrian army is that the city of es-Sukhna was blocked and goes under the control of Damascus. On fighting positions in East Ghouta, there are photos of the Russian and Syrian presidents. They were hung here about two years ago. Since then, the government troops have not retreated. In many respects, the de-escalation zones, created quite recently, have helped in the Governorates of Damascus, Daraa, Quneitra, Essaouira, and Homs. Military operations have been almost stopped. The so-called moderate opposition agreed to a truce only under the guarantees of the Russian military.
The actual border of the de-escalation zone in East Ghouta looks like this. The line of demarcation between militants and governmental forces. Of course, there is much more that reminds about the war: defensive fortifications, machine gun cases, liners from ruptured mines. But not a single shot is heard, the truce is observed unconditionally. Compliance with the regime of silence is now the concern of the Russian military police. Checkpoints and observation posts are deployed between the conflicting parties. The task is not to let through weapons and ammunition.
According to our information, the Jabhat Al-Nusra group with up to 350 fighters is located before the front line. They review how to fight back the militants two times a day on the Russian posts. Both theoretical and practical training. They will fight provocations in the air as well. At the posts, they installed Verba, the latest automated portable air defense missile systems, able to get any low-flying air target. In East Ghouta, a no-fly zone has been declared for all types of aircraft. The first humanitarian convoys arrived on the territory controlled by militants. Together with sugar, flour, and canned food, people are given leaflets with calls to lay down their arms.
The fourth de-escalation zone will start working in Idlib and the southern suburb of Aleppo. There, the armed groups of the Syrian opposition went out to negotiate a truce themselves. Syrians, who fled the war, are gradually returning home. There were 600 thousand people only in the past six months. The children are closely following the works on the water pipes in Mesken. September 1, these boys will go to school for the first time in their lives. The current situation in Syria is well symbolized by the inscription in the heart of Damascus. The letters, painted in a protective color, show that the fighting is continuing, and the heart in the center gives people hope that the war will end soon.
