Iranian General leading anti-Daesh fight in Syria

The commander of the Quds Force affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Qasem Soleimani, is directly supervising the military operations which aim at tightening control over the strategic city of Al-Bukamal located in the far east of Syria, sources have said.

The sources stated that Soleimani had been in the Iraqi-Syrian border region for days, leading the military operations on the south-eastern side of Al-Bukamal. He is still there directly commanding the support operation of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, Fatemiyoun Division and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.

Read: ‘Israel will act in Syria according to its security needs,’ Netanyahu says

Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, which support the Syrian Armed Forces in its operations to restore Al-Bukamal, set up a camp on the Syrian-Iraqi border and will remain there until the city is liberated from Daesh.

It was Soleimani, the sources said, who proposed the acceleration of military operations in Al-Bukamal; for fear that the United States may prevent Syrian forces and their allies from reaching the city. This would lead to an unnecessary confrontation with Washington.

Al-Bukamal is located in the oil-rich province of Deir Ez-Zor in eastern Syria. It is the last major city held by Daesh.