May 4, 2018 - 17:19 AMT
Islamic State building up forces to breakout of west Deir ez-Zor

The Islamic State (IS) has heavily concentrated their fighters in the western part of the Badiyya area they control in the vast Syrian Desert, Al-Masdar News reports citing a military source.

The source said the Syrian military believes the Islamic State is going to attempt to breakout of the large pocket they control in the next two weeks.

He would add that the Islamic State may attempt to launch this attack in the coming days in order to alleviate the pressure on their forces in the southern districts of Damascus.

IS has attempted to breakout out of this pocket before and even cutoff the Deir ez-Zor Highway near the town of Al-Sukhnah at one point.

The Syrian Army was forced to deploy several military units to this front in order to retake the ground they lost and force IS to retreat back into the desert.