(Reporting by Abdullah raja; Translation by Dani Murad)

Sources and eyewitnesses in the border town of al-Bukamal east Syria informed Zaman Alwasl that many factions affiliated with FSA have pledged allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) amid a huge public attendance, where their weapons have been handed over to “ISIS”.

 The source said brigades of Ahl Al Athar, Ibin al-Qa'im, and Aisha have pledged allegiance to the State after clashes that ended quickly for the benefit of ISIS, while the leader of these brigades and factions have fled to the countryside of al-Bukamal into neighboring towns in Deir Ezzor province.

Moreover, tribal meditations have taken place with ISIS to enable those leaders to leave their positions safely after taking an oath of allegiance to the state, and therefore dominating much of Syria's eastern oil-producing Euphrates River region, and its fast gains in Iraq's Sunni Muslim provinces over the last three weeks, means the state now commands a large cross-border expanse of territory - in which al-Bukamal forms an important link, with the exception of some regime-held areas.

In a related development, sources also informed Zaman Alwasl that the state’s primary concern now in al-Bukamal and its countryside is to apply an anti-smoking procedure "tobacco ban", stressing that the smoking phenomena have disappeared from city's neighborhoods, and that the group usually asks about two things at the checkpoints : first smoking, and then the weapon.

And news have been circulating among ISIS’s militants that the next step for the group is to secure the oil and gas fields in the region, and link Iraq to Syria directly with absolutely no borders, which is what Zaman Alwasl has warned about 3 months ago, when it raised the alarm for the expansion of Al Nusra Front and ISIS in Deir Ezzor, amid weak performance of FSA and lack of arms support.

In addition to that, sources also confirmed that if the shortage of arms and the dispersion of FSA factions continue, Al Nusra Front and the state will fully control FSA brigades, fusing them within their extreme and Jihadi ideologies, since they are the main players in Deir Ezzor, after the military council of the city has eroded.