The Syrian regime army and allied fighters drove Daesh (ISIS) from their last positions in the central province of Hama on Wednesday after heavy fighting, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, said Daesh was no longer present anywhere in the province for the first time in three years.
The army, backed by ally Russia, launched a campaign against Daesh in Hama in early September, capturing some 50 villages and the strategic town of Uqayribat, the Observatory said.
"On Wednesday, regime forces managed to take control of all the last remaining villages in the hands of Daesh in eastern Hama province after more than a month of fierce clashes between the two sides," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The monitor said more than 400 Daesh fighters and nearly 190 Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen had been killed in the fighting.
There was no immediate announcement in Syrian state media, but the Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, reported that "the army has taken complete control of eastern Hama province."
"Daesh is no longer present in Hama province," it added.
The government holds large parts of Hama province, and all of the provincial capital.
But extremists and other rebels hold pockets of territory in the northeast and south.
Daesh's loss of Hama province comes after they were forced in June to withdraw from their last positions in Aleppo province further north.
The extremist group is also facing multiple offensives elsewhere in the country.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, is battling to oust Daesh from their onetime stronghold of Raqqa.
The SDF is also fighting Daesh in neighboring Deir al-Zor province, where the regime is waging its own campaign against the extremist group as well.
More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.