Syrian troops reportedly kill 120 Daesh terrorists in Hama province

Syrian army units, aided by pro-government fighters and Russian air force, have killed 120 members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the western-central province of Hama, pushing the terrorists out of the town of Uqayribat, their last major bastion in the restive province, a report says.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that the Daesh terrorists “were killed in clashes in and around the town of Uqayribat in the eastern Hama countryside.” The fierce clashes with Syrian forces occurred during the previous 24 hours, it added.

Uqayribat fell to Daesh in 2014 and has since been used by the Takfiri terrorists to launch attacks against government-held areas, including a vital road, which according to the observatory, is “the only lifeline” for the Syrian government “between Aleppo and central and southern Syria.”

On Friday, Syrian army troops took over the town but Daesh managed to recapture most of it in a counteroffensive on Saturday. However, an intense barrage of artillery fire unleashed by Syrian forces against the Takfiri positions in the volatile town on Sunday morning flushed them out.

According to the observatory, multiple airstrikes carried out by Russian warplanes aided the government forces to clinch the victory over terrorists in Uqayribat. The report added that victorious troops then advanced toward a number of villages to the west that still remained under the control of Daesh.

Back in June, government forces, supported by heavy Russian airstrikes, carried out a major counterterrorism operation on Daesh-held areas in Hama. Some parts of the province's rural north are still under the control of other militant groups.

Elsewhere in its report, the monitoring group noted that “by consolidating their control of (Uqayribat) and ousting Daesh from the surrounding villages,” Syrian troops managed to oust terrorists from the whole of Hama province.

Six of the 14 provinces of Syria are neighbors to Hama, which makes it strategically vital to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as it cuts access of armed groups in Idlib to the capital Damascus in the south, and the government’s coastal heartlands to the west.

Syrian army soldiers on Saturday also regained control of an area north of Mannoukh village in the central province of Homs, inflicting heavy losses on the Daesh ranks and its military equipment. Elsewhere in the eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, Syrian and Russian fighter jets pounded the Daesh positions and fortifications.

In the past few months, Daesh has suffered multiple defeats across Syria, notably in the city of Raqqah, its de facto capital in the Arab country. It has also been heavily battered in neighboring Iraq, particularly by losing its main Iraqi base of Mosul in July.

Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored militant and terrorist groups since March 2011. The Damascus government has repeatedly blamed certain countries for the spread of the devastating militancy.

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