Syrian army liberates more areas in eastern Daesh-held city

Rasa - The Syrian army has advanced deeper into the Daesh-held eastern city of al-Mayadin, pushing the Takfiri terror outfit on the verge of total defeat in its main urban base of operations in the Arab state.

News ID: 433074

Date: 12 October 2017 - 17:42

RNA - Reuters quoted a Hezbollah-run military news outlet as saying Thursday that Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters and Russian air power, cleared more areas of the city, located in Dayr al-Zawr Province, of Daesh militants.

Damascus forces are currently engaged in heavy battles with the remaining terrorists inside the city, which is expected to be fully liberated in the coming hours.

The Syrian army and allied forces closed in on the city last Friday.

Al-Mayadin is viewed as the current stronghold of the terrorist group in the Arab country after Daesh was ousted from its former holdout of Raqqah in northern Syria.

In June, US intelligence officials told Reuters that they believed Daesh had moved most of its weakened command structure and propaganda team to al-Mayadin, also in the Dayr al-Zawr province, southeast of it former stronghold.

Backed by the Russian military and fighters of Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement, the Syrian army has managed to break Daesh’s three-year siege on Dayr al-Zawr province, though the total elimination of the group is yet to come.

Dayr al-Zawr is subject to a separate military campaign by US-backed militants, who have been establishing self-ruled zones in Syria under the pretext of fighting Daesh.

The parallel offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed alliance of mainly Kurdish militia, has on numerous occasions hampered the Syrian government’s anti-Daesh battles.

Russia said last month that SDF forces had twice targeted Syrian government positions amid Dayr al-Zawr operations.

Meanwhile, the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense says Syrian army soldiers and allied fighters from popular defense groups have managed to purge Daesh terrorists from over 91 percent of the country’s territory, almost riding the entire country of the terrorist group.

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