Syria liberates more areas near Dayr al-Zawr

The Syrian army and allied volunteer fighters have made fresh gains against militants in a key village in the country’s east, securing areas in an area that recently saw the massacre of hundreds of people at the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Syria’s official news agency (SANA) said on Monday that the armed forces managed to retake control of a major neighborhood in the al-Bghailiye village, north of the city of Dayr al-Zawr.

Syrian forces pushed back militants from the al-Ruwad area, the highest point in Bghailiye, according to the report.

The operation came just two days after Daesh militants blitzed the village and killed more than 300 people, most of them women and elderly people.

The terrorists also kidnapped 400 people, mostly women and children, in Bghailiye late last week.

Military sources said Syrian army had begun a demining operation in the areas they recaptured from the militants in Bghailiye to facilitate the return of residents.

SANA said Syrian forces also inched closer on militants in the western countryside of Dayr al-Zawr, regaining control of the al-Hissan, al-Gneineh and Ayash villages.

Clashes also erupted inside Dayr al-Zawr, with reports saying many terrorists were killed by the Syrian forces as they tried to infiltrate the neighborhood of al-Rashediyeh.

Dayr al-Zawr has been effectively under siege by Daesh militants since early 2015, when the militants launched an offensive, capturing the historical city of Palmyra in Homs Province, then cutting off the remaining supply line to the city.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, pro-government forces managed to destroy a major tunnel used by the militants in Salah-Eddin neighborhood in the city of Aleppo.

SANA said losses were also inflicted on militants in the southern province of Dara’a, where four vehicles and two mortar launchers belonging to the terrorists were destroyed.

Syrian forces have recently been making back-to-back advances with the support of fighters from the Lebanon resistance movement Hezbollah and Russian airstrikes.

Over 260,000 people have reportedly been killed in Syria since foreign-backed militancy erupted in the country in March 2011.

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