Dear Deeply Readers,

Welcome to the archives of Syria Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on May 15, 2018, and transitioned some of our coverage to Peacebuilding Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Syrian conflict. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.

We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].

BROWSE THE SYRIA DEEPLY ARCHIVES

As ISIS Advances in Eastern Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra Faces Loss of Control

Bolstered by financial and military gains from its June offensive in Mosul, the group now has control of swaths of territory once held by the al-Qaida-backed Nusra Front and other rebel groups.

Written by Karen Leigh Published on Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Over the past week, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which on July 6 declared itself the Islamic State caliphate, has made steady gains in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, along the border with Iraq.

Bolstered by financial and military gains from its June offensive in Mosul – photos on social media showed ISIS fighters driving tanks across the now-open border between Iraq and Syria – the group now has control of swaths of territory once held by the al-Qaida-backed Jabhat al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups.

We asked Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on extremist militants in Syria at the US-based Middle East Forum, to weigh in on ISIS gains, Jabhat al-Nusra’s retreat and the new wave of rebel fighters defecting to join ISIS ranks.

Syria Deeply: Where has ISIS made gains in eastern Syria in the last few weeks?

Aymenn al-Tamimi: Pretty much all the main rebel localities in Deir Ezzor province have now fallen to the Islamic State, including Abu Kamal, ash-Shuhail and al-Mayadeen – and now ISIS has moved into Deir Ezzor city. Along with all these new gains, there have been initiatives where men who have been fighting with other rebel groups will be spared if they give up their weapons and pledge their allegiance to ISIS.

This has happened for example in ash-Shuhail and Abu Kamal and in Khasham, in Deir Ezzor province. A number of people had to leave their homes because of the violence, and now they have been allowed to return provided they pledge their allegiance to IS. Nusra was the leading rebel group in the town of Ash-Shuheyl, fighting alongside Jaish al-Mu’ta al-Islami and other groups from the Islamic Front (e.g. Jaysh al-Islam). They have all since melted away, and their members have been spared by IS provided they give up their weapons and pledge allegiance. It represents a dramatic shift in ISIS’s holding power in the province.

Syria Deeply: How long had ISIS been battling to make these gains?

Tamimi: The military situation in the east has been trending in ISIS’s favor for months. ISIS had to leave Deir Ezzor province way back in late January and early February. Then the rebels launched multiple offensives to try to take al-Merkedeh, a locality in southern Hassakeh province. ISIS repelled the offensives and launched a counter-offensive into Deir Ezzor province, pushing deeply into it despite the back-and-forth over localities like Jadid Akidat. And that had been going on for some time, before the fall of Mosul. After the fall of Mosul, new weaponry was coming into Syria for ISIS and also with the gains they made in western Anbar, they were able to launch sustained offensives over the border, into places like Abu Kamel.

Syria Deeply: Have they come faster than you expected? It’s only been a month since the Mosul offensive.

Tamimi: This wasn’t faster than I expected. It was inevitable. The exact pace is difficult to determine. Once Abu Kamal fell, there was a sudden collapse in rebel resistance to ISIS. The other localities just fell one by one.

Syria Deeply: Where does Nusra stand now?

Tamimi: Nusra has basically acknowledged loss of control over the east. When [Nusra leader] Abu Mohammed al-Jolani made a speech only a few days ago announcing an Islamic emirate but made no mention of such authority extending into the east of Syria, it was a de facto acknowledgment of a loss of control there. Some of Nusra’s members were the first to give into ISIS, either by withdrawing from their military positions or by announcing their allegiance to ISIS.

Syria Deeply: What will we see in the east over the next few weeks?

Tamimi: The question is, how is ISIS now going to consolidate its control in the east? These are areas that fell away from the rebels who have been resisting ISIS’s advances. ISIS hasn’t exactly been welcomed into these places, and there have already been some demonstrations against IS in localities like Abu Kamal. It has to be remembered that some longtime prominent ISIS figures who have come from Deir Ezzor province, like Saddam al-Jamal – who was a defector from the Free Syrian Army in Abu Kamal – have a reputation for criminality.

ISIS is going to have to be conciliatory to some degree to win local support. They have already invested in some local initiatives like repairing a water plant in Barhouz in the Abu Kamal area, and also allowing the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to distribute water to locals in Abu Kamal. In terms of implementing their [strict Sharia] program, they will have to take it at a somewhat slower pace than they have in strongholds like Raqqa.

Republish this article

Our mission is to empower stakeholders and the wider public with high quality information, insights, and analysis on critical global issues. To help achieve this, we encourage you to republish the text of any article that contains a Republish button on your own news outlet.

By copying the HTML below, you agree to adhere to our republishing guidelines.

By copying the HTML below, you agree to adhere to our republishing guidelines. Click to expand

  1. In republishing any of our articles:

    Ensure that you include a line of our HTML tracking code on every article you republish. This is a lightweight, efficient way for us to see the number of page views of each specific article published on our partners’ websites. This does not affect page layout, nor does it provide any information about your users, other web pages on your site, or any further data. By copying and pasting the HTML code in the box below, the tracking code is automatically included.

    If, for any reason, you do not copy the code prepared for you, you must paste this code snippet into the end of the article in your CMS: 

    <img src="http://ping.newsdeeply.com/pixel.gif?key=98375&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsdeeply.com%2Fsyria%2Farticles%2F2014%2F07%2F16%2Fas-isis-advances-in-eastern-syria-jabhat-al-nusra-faces-loss-of-control" alt="" />

  2. Adhere to the guidelines below:
    • Edit our stories only to reflect references to time (e.g. "today" to "yesterday"), location (e.g. "New York" to "here") or editorial style; do not edit the wording of our articles.
    • Include all the links within the story.
    • Credit our authors and partner institutions — ideally in the byline. We prefer “Author Name, Institution”
    • Note at the top and/or bottom of the story that it originally appeared on Syria Deeply. This note should include a direct link to the original article and a sentence that offers the reader the opportunity to join the Syria’s mailing list. Our recommended example is:
      • This should read : “This article originally appeared on Syria Deeply. You can find the original here. For important news about the war in Syria, you can sign up to the Syria email list.”
    • Do not republish a photo without our written permission. Some sources don't allow their images to be republished without permission.
    • Do not translate a story into another language without our written permission.
    • We often republish pieces from our partners. If you want to republish a partner’s story, you must credit the original partner and include a “via News Deeply” link.
    • Note that News Deeply considers the publication date to be the date marked on the story, and is not responsible for any content that you choose to repost.
    • After republication on the partner website, if you make an accompanying post on social media referencing the republished article, you must include the relevant Deeply social media handle in such post. For example, (i) for Twitter posts this means adding the appropriate @Deeply tag such as @SyriaDeeply, @WaterDeeply, or @WomensGirlsHub and (ii) for Facebook this means tagging the appropriate Deeply page in your Facebook post.
    • News Deeply material may not to be provided, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to third parties or affiliates for redistribution through those entities, unless you have received prior written approval from News Deeply.
    • You may not automatically or systematically republish any material from our sites; all stories must be chosen individually for republishing.
    • You may not sell our content or republish it for commercial purposes without our prior written consent.
    • We reserve the right to request that any partner ceases republication of our content, including but not limited to if the guidelines listed above not being followed.
    • If you have any questions or concerns please contact [email protected]

Suggest your story or issue.

Send

Share Your Story.

Have a story idea? Interested in adding your voice to our growing community?

Learn more