Iraq News

ISIL assault halts aid drops in Syria's Deir Ezzor

The World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday (January 17th) it has suspended aid drops to the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor because of heavy fighting after a fierce "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) assault, AFP reported.

ISIL has besieged Deir Ezzor's 100,000 residents since 2015 and already controls large parts of the city, but on Saturday advanced further inside remaining regime-held territory.

The clashes, which continued for a fourth day on Tuesday, have left more than 100 people dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"We have put on hold the air drop operation in Deir Ezzor for security operational reasons," said WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher. "There is heavy fighting ongoing in and around the landing zone... It is simply too dangerous to do this now."

The WFP has been dropping humanitarian aid into Deir Ezzor since April 2016, and the regime-held area is the only place in Syria where the agency has permission for the drops.

Luescher said the WFP's last aid drop was on Sunday, adding that 3,300 metric tonnes of food and other aid have been dispatched to the city since the operation began.

The ISIL assault has divided the east of the remaining regime-held parts of the city from the west, and has cut the route from the city's key military airport, limiting the regime's ability to bring in supplies and military reinforcements.

The latest assault, which included waves of suicide bombers, is the "most violent" attack on the city in more than a year, according to the Observatory.

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