Islamic State gains ground near Syria city

ISLAMIC State gained ground around a key eastern Syrian city yesterday, a monitor said, despite a heavy airstrikes by government warplanes.

The jihadists pressed their assault on Deir Ezzor for the second day, seizing territory near an airbase on the city’s edges, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“IS seized several hilltops that overlook the airport,” and clashes gripped the area on Sunday, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. The advance came “despite more than 120 airstrikes carried out by regime forces on jihadist positions since Saturday morning, in addition to heavy artillery fire”, he said.

Around 200,000 people live in Deir Ezzor city, which has been besieged by IS since early 2015 and is the capital of the oil-rich province of the same name.

IS already controls more than half the city, but it has sought to capture the remaining government-held territory, including the military airport.

It launched one of its fiercest assaults yet on Saturday, unleashing a wave of tunnel bombs and suicide attackers.

At least 12 government fighters and 20 IS jihadists were killed.

A source in Deir Ezzor said IS was “amassing its forces to attack Deir Ezzor and breach government lines” in order to cut off regime access to the base.