(Zaman Al Wasl)- Free Syrian Army killed 22 regime troops in the eastern countryside of Aleppo as Damascus launched major offensive to halt advances made by the Turkish-backed group, local reporter said Monday.
Three more soldiers were taken captive by FSA as battles take place near al-Bab town two days since its capture by the Euphrates Shields troops.
On Sunday, the regime army and its allies made a sudden advance on Saturday and Sunday into areas held by ISIS in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, a war monitor said, as the jihadist group retreated after losing the city of al-Bab to Turkey-backed rebels.
By taking Islamic State territory south of al-Bab, the army is preventing any possible move by Turkey and the rebel groups it supports to expand southwards, and is moving closer to regaining control of water supplies for Aleppo.
On Sunday, the army took the town of Tadef, just south of al-Bab after Islamic State withdrew from it, state television reported. Earlier this month, a senior Russian official said Tadef marked an agreed dividing line between the Syrian army and the Turkey-backed forces.
The eastwards advance south of Tadef has extended Syrian army control across 14 villages and brought it within 25km (15 miles) of Lake Assad, the stretch of the Euphrates above the Tabqa dam.
Also on Sunday, the Syrian army and its allies made a new advance against Islamic State around Palmyra, coming to within a few kilometers of the ancient desert city that the jihadists captured in December.
Islamic State's holdings in northwest Syria have been eviscerated over recent months by successive advances by three different, rival forces: Syrian Kurdish groups backed by the United States, the Turkey-backed rebels, and the army.
Islamic State's loss of al-Bab after weeks of bitter street fighting marks the group's effective departure from northwest Syria, once one of its most fearsome strongholds, and an area of importance because of its location on the Turkish border.
Turkey's entry into Syria's war via the Euphrates Shield campaign in support of rebel groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army was intended both to push Islamic State from the border and to stop Kurdish expansion there. (With Reuters)
Three more soldiers were taken captive by FSA as battles take place near al-Bab town two days since its capture by the Euphrates Shields troops.
On Sunday, the regime army and its allies made a sudden advance on Saturday and Sunday into areas held by ISIS in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, a war monitor said, as the jihadist group retreated after losing the city of al-Bab to Turkey-backed rebels.
By taking Islamic State territory south of al-Bab, the army is preventing any possible move by Turkey and the rebel groups it supports to expand southwards, and is moving closer to regaining control of water supplies for Aleppo.
On Sunday, the army took the town of Tadef, just south of al-Bab after Islamic State withdrew from it, state television reported. Earlier this month, a senior Russian official said Tadef marked an agreed dividing line between the Syrian army and the Turkey-backed forces.
The eastwards advance south of Tadef has extended Syrian army control across 14 villages and brought it within 25km (15 miles) of Lake Assad, the stretch of the Euphrates above the Tabqa dam.
Also on Sunday, the Syrian army and its allies made a new advance against Islamic State around Palmyra, coming to within a few kilometers of the ancient desert city that the jihadists captured in December.
Islamic State's holdings in northwest Syria have been eviscerated over recent months by successive advances by three different, rival forces: Syrian Kurdish groups backed by the United States, the Turkey-backed rebels, and the army.
Islamic State's loss of al-Bab after weeks of bitter street fighting marks the group's effective departure from northwest Syria, once one of its most fearsome strongholds, and an area of importance because of its location on the Turkish border.
Turkey's entry into Syria's war via the Euphrates Shield campaign in support of rebel groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army was intended both to push Islamic State from the border and to stop Kurdish expansion there. (With Reuters)
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