Syria govt forces pull out of Deir Ezzor, says monitor

Syrian troops and their Iran-backed allies "suddenly" pulled out of eastern Deir Ezzor city and its surroundings Friday, a war monitor said, as a rebel offensive dealt the government a series of stunning blows.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said government forces evacuated some checkpoints in the south's Daraa province as local fighters attacked several administrative buildings in one town.

"Syrian regime forces and commanders of Iran-backed allied groups suddenly withdrew from Deir Ezzor city and its countryside with columns of soldiers heading towards the central Palmyra region," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, told AFP.

Their move towards Palmyra, in central Syria, came as Islamist-led rebels who had launched a lightning offensive last week were at the gates of Homs city, to Palmyra's west.

Deir Ezzor city is home to Iranian advisers brought in after Syria's war began in 2011, as well as Iranian institutions, schools and a cultural centre.

Iran-backed paramilitaries have bolstered the fighting force of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the war, which was triggered by the brutal suppression of a pro-democracy uprising.

Deir Ezzor province, an oil-rich region bordering Iraq, is split between Kurdish forces to the east of the Euphrates and Iran-backed Syrian government forces and their proxies to the west.

The government-held part of Deir Ezzor near the frontier with Iraq is a key hub for Iran's footmen, including Iraqi militia fighters.

 Daraa unrest
 In Syria's southern Daraa province, the Observatory said local fighters took control of at least two checkpoints after government forces pulled out, and also seized a police station and an air force intelligence branch elsewhere.

Daraa province was the cradle of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad but it returned to government control in 2018 under a ceasefire deal backed by Damascus's main ally Russia.

Former rebels there who accepted the 2018 deal were able to keep their light weapons.

In Nawa, north of Daraa city, the Observatory said "local fighters managed to control several positions" including some administrative buildings "after a broad attack targeting the military intelligence department".

"In retaliation, regime forces... shelled residential areas in Nawa with artillery," the monitor said, adding that the shelling extended to other towns.

In 2021, rebels who had stayed on in the provincial capital's Daraa al-Balad neighbourhood clashed with government forces before a new Moscow-brokered truce saw dozens of fighters bused out of the city.

Daraa province has since been plagued by unrest, with regular attacks, armed clashes and assassinations, some claimed by the Islamic State group, as well as sporadic protests against deteriorating living conditions.

A local activist told AFP, requesting anonymity, that local armed groups were gathering together and would announce a "joint operation", without elaborating on what it would entail.

Activists from Daraa province also reported anti-government gatherings in some areas on Friday.

They shared images on social media of people chanting anti-Assad slogans in the town of Bosra al-Sham, and waving the rebel flag at the historic Omari mosque in the Daraa al-Balad neighbourhood.