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On December 8, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that its fighters captured the town of Gharanij on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside. The SDF also reported that heavy clashes between the its fighters and members of ISIS took place around the village of al-Jurdi south of Gharanij.
Gharanij is located 25km north of the town of Hajin. This confirms that ISIS is still controlling a large part of the eastern bank of the Euphrates in the southeastern Deir Ezzor countryside.
From its side, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported on December 8, that a heavy VBIED of ISIS attacked a convoy of the SDF near the village of Darnj south of the Omar oil fields. 15 SDF fighters were killed and 3 Humvee vehicles, 3 vehicles and a bulldozer of the SDF were destroyed in the VBIED attack according to Amaq.
ISIS will likely step up its attacks against the SDF in the upcoming days in a final attempt to maintain a foothold near the Syrian-Iraqi border. However, with a heavy air-support from the US-led coalition, the SDF will likely capture all the remaining ISIS positions in eastern Syria in the near future.
