Convoy of ISIL fighters reaches Deir Ezzor as Syrian troops continue to push into city

A group of 300 ISIL fighters and civilians have reached jihadist-controlled territory in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor after spending more than two weeks trying to get there, a source from Lebanese group Hizbollah told The National.

Deir Ezzor is increasingly under siege from US-backed forces to the north and Russian-backed Syrian government forces from the west in separate campaigns that have made significant progress in and around the city.

Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria, said he was unable to confirm whether the convoy that was transporting the fighters had reached Deir Ezzor.

Both Reuters and Agence France-Presse cited Syrian government sources saying that the convoy had reached Deir Ezzor, but did not specify the route it had taken or whether all of the 17 buses which originally made up the convoy had arrived.

The US military had bombed roads to prevent the convoy from reaching ISIL territory, but said last week that it had stopped monitoring the buses at the request of Russian officials. The US and Russia maintain a demarcation zone that runs roughly along the Euphrates, with US-backed forces fighting on the east side of the river and Russian-backed forces fighting to the west.

The buses began crossing Syria on August 28 after an evacuation deal was struck between ISIL and Hizbollah, which is fighting alongside the forces of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad. The deal included providing information on the location of 10 Lebanese soldiers presumably killed by the jihadists, returning the bodies of Hizbollah and Iranian fighters and releasing Hizbollah fighters held prisoner by ISIL.

Meanwhile, Hizbollah-affiliated media announced on Thursday that one of those prisoners, Ahmed Matouq, had arrived in Lebanon.

Col Dillon criticised the Syrian government and Hizbollah for negotiating a deal with the jihadists.

“The regime was complicit in allowing them to link up with other ISIL fighters,” Mr Dillon said.

But those reinforcements may matter little as the Syrian government’s troops and allied militia, backed by Russian air power, are fighting inside Deir Ezzor after having broken a years-long ISIL siege against a military base on the western side of the city in the last week.

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US-backed forces, Syrian army advance separately on ISIL in Deir Ezzor

Syrian army breaks years-long siege of Deir Ezzor airbase

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LiveUA Map, which monitors developments in Syria’s six-year-old civil war, reported the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had reached the northern suburbs of Deir Ezzor on Wednesday, putting them within a kilometre of territory recently captured by the Syrian government. One report put the two forces so close to each other that only the Euphrates separated them.

Col Dillon declined to specify exactly how far the SDF had progressed, but said they had “reached their objective” in an operation that was announced on September 9 to clear ISIL fighters from the Khabur River valley. The Khabur flows south into Syria from Turkey, joining the Euphrates about 40 kilometres south of Deir Ezzor.

Since then, SDF forces appear to have quickly advanced about 130 kilometres from the city of Al Shadadi to the outskirts of Deir Ezzor.

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"[ISIL fighters] have concentrated their efforts on urban areas. The areas that have been ceded, if you will, is open territory, open ground,” Col. Dillon said. “They will put up a fight but they’re not going to fight to the last man in some of these open crossroad areas.”

By comparison, SDF forces fighting in the city of Raqqa since June control a little more than 60 per cent of that city, one of ISIL’s last strongholds in Syria.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you get into this very difficult fighting, progress is made literally building by building,” Col Dillon said. “Over the course of the last week, SDF have cleared 36 city blocks in Raqqa.

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The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.

Top financial tips for graduates

Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:

1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.

2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.

3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.

4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.

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Salah in numbers

€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.

13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.

57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.

7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.

3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.

40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.

30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.

8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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