News / Syria

Syria tightens noose around Daesh in Dayr al-Zawr

Sunday, 29 October 2017 11:23 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 30 October 2017 5:35 AM ]

File photo of Syrian troops during an anti-Daesh battle

Syrian Army forces have reportedly killed at least 50 Daesh terrorists in Dayr al-Zawr and confined the Takfiris to an area between the city and the Euphrates.

The UK-based so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the developments inside the Arab country, said on Sunday that the fatalities had been caused during clashes that started a day earlier in response to a Daesh attack.

Twenty-three people were also killed among the ranks of the Army and its allies, it added.

Daesh "is now encircled in an area between the city and the (Euphrates) River," said the Observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Government forces have captured two new neighborhoods and the municipal stadium, with the two sides exchanging heavy fire.

Damascus broke Daesh’s siege over the city, which the group had been maintaining since 2014, when it began its campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Syria.

The terrorists seized huge swathes of land in lightning strikes after taking on the country. Syria then enlisted the assistance of Lebanon's Hezbollah and Russian aerial support, pushing the terrorists out of much of the territory under their control.

Iran has been lending military advisory support to the Syrian Army.

Dayr al-Zawr Province, of which the city is the capital, is the last place in the Arab country, which holds pockets of the terrorists.

Abdel Rahman said the fighting that began Saturday was the fiercest in the city since government troops broke the siege.

US-backed so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are also closing in from the other side of the Euphrates, threatening a showdown with government troops and their allies.