(Zaman Al Wasl)- Islamic State fighters on Thursday have renewed the attack on regime forces and allied militias in the northwestern Hama province, killing 20 people, residents told Zaman al-Wasl.
The attack took place 11 miles (17 km) east of al-Salamiya, the strategic town that lies near the Syrian desert where ISIS still control vast swaths.
ISIS attacked Aqarib village near the main road between Aleppo and Homs on Thursday, killing many residents, Syrian state media and a war monitor said.
The militant group said in a social media feed it had captured the village of Aqarib al-Safi, but the regime-run SANA news agency reported that the attack had been repulsed.
SANA said ISIS fighters had killed 20 people in the village before the army and allied militia drove them away. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that clashes were still going on there and in the village of al-Saboura.
The Observatory said that at least 31 people, including both civilians and fighters on both sides, had been killed and that dozens had been injured. It said that some of those killed had first been taken prisoner by ISIS.
The villages are north of al-Salamiya close to the only road still useable between Aleppo and other parts of Syria held by the regime.
The army and its allies hold the road and a small strip of land on each side, with ISIS controlling the eastern area and Syrian rebel groups, including hardline Islamists, the western area.
The Observatory said the attack was the most violent so far this year by ISIS on the road.
Last week, Islamic State launched surprise attack on regime forces north of Salamiyya city near a highway links between Aleppo and Hama. Five militants killed and 23 wounded.
ISIS looks to control Athariya road, a strategic adjacent, to cut supply route between the eastern countryside of Hama and Aleppo.
Backed by heavy Russian and regime airstrikes, the regime army seeks to expel rebels from the Hama province and to secure the Alawites- dominated territory in al-Ghab Plain, local activists say.
In eastern Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have seized 350 square km (135 square miles) in the past week, tightening "their noose" on Islamic State in an advance to isolate its base of operations at Raqqa, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said on Wednesday.
Some 3,000 to 4,000 Islamic State fighters are thought to be holed up in Raqqa city where they continue to erect defenses against the anticipated assault, drawing coalition air strikes to stop them, Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, told Reuters in a phone interview from Baghdad.
More than 465,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. (With agencies)
The attack took place 11 miles (17 km) east of al-Salamiya, the strategic town that lies near the Syrian desert where ISIS still control vast swaths.
ISIS attacked Aqarib village near the main road between Aleppo and Homs on Thursday, killing many residents, Syrian state media and a war monitor said.
The militant group said in a social media feed it had captured the village of Aqarib al-Safi, but the regime-run SANA news agency reported that the attack had been repulsed.
SANA said ISIS fighters had killed 20 people in the village before the army and allied militia drove them away. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that clashes were still going on there and in the village of al-Saboura.
The Observatory said that at least 31 people, including both civilians and fighters on both sides, had been killed and that dozens had been injured. It said that some of those killed had first been taken prisoner by ISIS.
The villages are north of al-Salamiya close to the only road still useable between Aleppo and other parts of Syria held by the regime.
The army and its allies hold the road and a small strip of land on each side, with ISIS controlling the eastern area and Syrian rebel groups, including hardline Islamists, the western area.
The Observatory said the attack was the most violent so far this year by ISIS on the road.
Last week, Islamic State launched surprise attack on regime forces north of Salamiyya city near a highway links between Aleppo and Hama. Five militants killed and 23 wounded.
ISIS looks to control Athariya road, a strategic adjacent, to cut supply route between the eastern countryside of Hama and Aleppo.
Backed by heavy Russian and regime airstrikes, the regime army seeks to expel rebels from the Hama province and to secure the Alawites- dominated territory in al-Ghab Plain, local activists say.
In eastern Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have seized 350 square km (135 square miles) in the past week, tightening "their noose" on Islamic State in an advance to isolate its base of operations at Raqqa, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said on Wednesday.
Some 3,000 to 4,000 Islamic State fighters are thought to be holed up in Raqqa city where they continue to erect defenses against the anticipated assault, drawing coalition air strikes to stop them, Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, told Reuters in a phone interview from Baghdad.
More than 465,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. (With agencies)
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