Siege of Deir ez-Zor (2014–2017)
The siege of Deir ez-Zor was a large-scale siege imposed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against several districts in the city of Deir ez-Zor held by the Syrian Army, in an attempt to capture the city and secure full control of the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. The ISIL siege of the city lasted for almost 3 years and 2 months, after which the Syrian Army launched a successful offensive that fully recaptured the city nine weeks later.
In April 2014, ISIL launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian rebel forces in Deir ez-Zor province. This resulted in the total defeat of rebel groups in the area, and ISIL gained control of almost all of Deir ez-Zor Governorate in July 2014. Syrian Government forces remained besieged in the pocket of territory they continued to control.[40] On 10 September 2017, the siege was fully broken by Government forces.[3] After another two months of fighting, the Syrian Army fully recaptured the ISIL-held parts of Deir ez-Zor city and its environs, by 17 November 2017.[41][42]
Impact on civilians[edit]
During the siege, ISIL cut off the power supply to the city.[127] In February 2016, around 200,000 people resided in Deir ez-Zor. The siege resulted in widespread malnutrition and starvation of the civilians in the city.[128] In response, the United Nations' World Food Programme has conducted 177 airdrops of food and other humanitarian aid to the besieged districts of the city since April 2016. 110,000–120,000 civilians remained as of January 2017, when an ISIL offensive on the airport forced the airdrops to be suspended.[129] In November 2017, the UN estimated that at the start of the siege, around 200,000 civilians were besieged in the Syrian Government-held districts of Deir ez-Zor, which decreased to 90,000 near the end of the siege, with most of those civilians escaping or being smuggled out of the city during ISIL's siege.[130]
As a result of the cut in electricity, only one electric generator-powered water pump was available, and the water was not treated. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has installed several water tanks in response.[54]
Between February 2015 and March 2016, more than 63 civilians were killed by ISIL bombardment on government-held neighbourhoods in Deir ez-Zor, in addition to 32 civilians who died of malnutrition and related diseases.[38]