ISIS convoy splits up in Syria

Beirut, Sept. 3: The US-led coalition says a 17-bus convoy carrying ISIS members and civilian evacuees from the Lebanon-Syria border has split into two groups as it tries to reach extremist-held territory further east.

The evacuees were allowed to relocate under a deal brokered by the Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which has angered Iraq and the coalition. Syrian opposition activists say dozens of ISIS fighters and their families have crossed into areas controlled by the extremists despite US threats to bomb the convoy. The coalition said on Sunday that it will continue to monitor the convoy but not allow it to link up with ISIS fighters in eastern Syria and western Iraq. It said the coalition will continue take action against ISIS without harming civilians.

Meanwhile, a minotor said on Sunday that fierce clashes between ISIS and pro-regime forces in central Syria have left over 150 fighters dead in 24 hours, mostly jihadists.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 120 ISIS fighters “were killed in clashes in and around the town of Uqayribat in the eastern Hama countryside ... Along with at least 35 regime troops and loyalist militiamen”.

The town is the jihadist group’s last bastion in the central province apart from a handful of small villages. Pro-government forces seized Uqayribat on Friday night, but ISIS responded with a counter-offensive on Saturday that left it in control of most of the town, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

An intense barrage of artillery fire and Syrian and Russian air strikes on jihadist positions allowed pro-regime forces on Sunday morning to push the jihadists back out of the town and advance on villages to the west that remain under ISIS control. ISIS has controlled Uqayribat since 2014, using it to launch attacks on regime-held areas areas and a strategically vital road Mr Rahman described as “the only lifeline for the regime between Aleppo and central and southern Syria”.