Our war correspondent Aleksandr Sladkov — on today's situation in Syria.
We're reporting from the center of Deir ez-Zor.
For almost three years, this part of the town was controlled by ISIS terrorists. And now, the people are cheering, celebrating, and reacting in this way to the statement that all the ISIS gangs on the territory of Syria have been defeated. There are no territories that are under the control of this terrorist organization.
The victory was reported overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning when troops of the Syrian general Suheil advancing from the east together with detachments of the Fifth Volunteer Assault Corps joined the government army attacking terrorists from the south. Celebrating began at night.
Now the military power is being handed over to the civilians, and civil committees are doing everything to establish a peaceful life not only in Deir ez-Zor, but throughout Syria.
Of course, the special services of the Syrian Republic will have a lot of work to do. I mean the police. It is necessary to identify all the accomplices of ISIS, to "clean up" the territory. But these are police special operations. The most important work with the assistance of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Russian military advisers is done here.
Saleikh Ali Abdallah, Deir ez-Zor resident: "We in Deir ez-Zor know that this is a real victory. We are grateful to Russia, Vladimir Putin, Russian and Syrian armies for the liberation of the country from ISIS".
Now there are four zones of de-escalation in Syria: north of the city of Homs, in the suburbs of Damascus near the Eastern Bay, on the border of Syria with Jordan and in the province of Idlib. There, with the active participation of Russia, is the Center for the Reconciliation of warring parties and negotiations on restoring the peaceful life as soon as possible are underway.
In addition, a lot of work is being done to ensure the return of refugees to their homes. A joint Russian-Syrian commission is working in Deir ez-Zor. The possibilities for receiving refugees, providing medical assistance and administrative services are being studied. More than three thousand inhabitants of Deir ez-Zor fled to Damascus during the war. They are in special refugee camps near Damascus.
Both Syrian and Russian EOD specialists did a great job They de-mined more than fourteen square kilometers of the city. It's ruins and houses. Hundreds of kilometers of roads have been cleared.
Everything is done so that people could get back to their normal lives.
Aleksandr Sladkov, Pavel Vydrin, Igor Uklein Vesti Weekly, Deir ez-Zor, Syria.
