Promote

ISIS seized the regime-held town of al-Sukna west of Deir ez-Zour City on May 14 and then seized the regime stronghold of Palmyra on May 20 after regime forces reportedly executed a full withdrawal from the city, prison, and military airbase.

ISIS seized the regime-held town of al-Sukna west of Deir ez-Zour City on May 14, severing the regime’s ground line of communication from Palmyra in the central Homs Desert to Deir ez-Zour City and eff­ectively isolating remaining regime positions in western Deir ez-Zour.

The ISIS seizure of Palmyra city is a major defeat for the Assad regime that is likely to jeopardize the regime’s ability to maintain a foothold in Deir ez-Zour.

ISW has updated its ISIS Sanctuary map. This map, covering both Iraq and Syria, shows the extent of ISIS zones of control, attack, and support throughout both countries.

ISIS is consolidating control over Ramadi and launched attacks to the east in an effort to preempt counterattacks by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and “Popular Mobilization” staging at the Habaniya base.

Between May 15 and 18 ISIS launched a major attack on al-Ramadi that resulted in the fall of the city from government control.

Ramadi, the birthplace of the Sunni tribal Awakening, has fallen out of government control after resisting ISIS for over a year.

ISW has tracked the ISIS assault on Ramadi since January 2014 when they attacked both Ramadi and Fallujah. This presentation shows how ISIS has positioned itself in Anbar Province since that time to the capture of Ramadi this past weekend.

ISIS conducted a main attack upon downtown Ramadi, reportedly making its greatest gains since December 2014, including multiple neighborhoods in central Ramadi and the unconfirmed capture of the Ramadi government complex.