BEIRUT -- The militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has prevented food and medical supplies from reaching some neighborhoods in an eastern Syrian city and has ceased some of its operations in Syria while waiting for weapons to arrive from neighboring Iraq, activists said Friday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the siege is mostly on rebel-held neighborhoods of Deir el-Zour. It said an offensive by militants of the Islamic State in eastern Syria against rival Islamic rebel factions who oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad has killed more than 640 people and uprooted at least 130,000 since the end of April.
The Islamic State's campaign in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province appears aimed at linking the large expanse of territory under its control in northern and eastern Syria with areas it has captured in neighboring Iraq. It seized that country's second largest city of Mosul and other areas earlier this week.
The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said most operations by the Islamic State in Syria appear to have been suspended until weapons arrive from Iraq, where its fighters captured large amounts of ammunition, arms and vehicles.
Abdurrahman said Islamic State fighters have not fought major battles for the past two days except for some skirmishes in the northern province of Aleppo. He added that some Humvees apparently seized in Iraq had already appeared in the northern Syrian town of Manbij, which is under the control of the Islamic State.
Abdurrahman added that Syrian government helicopter gunships destroyed one of the armored personnel carriers Friday in al-Bukamal, near Deir el-Zour.
The Islamic State, which is largely composed of foreign jihadists, has made significant headway in Syria over the past six weeks, seizing towns and villages in heavy fighting against the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and other Islamic rebel groups.
The Islamic State recently captured a bridge on the Euphrates river that was the main entrance to rebel-held parts of Deir el-Zour, which is contested by the rebels and government forces, the Observatory said.
An activist based in Deir el-Zour, who goes by the name of Abu Abdullah, said via Skype that some food is being smuggled into the city by boat. He added that food prices have started rising.
"A humanitarian crisis is beginning in the city," Abu Abdullah said.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said the Islamic State is preventing vehicles from entering or leaving the neighborhoods, which are home to 25,000 people.
Syrian government forces and rebels have besieged several areas over the course of the three-year civil war in a bid to starve out their opponents, a tactic that has been condemned by the United Nations and human-rights groups.
A Section on 06/14/2014