Gains for Islamic State in Syria
BEIRUT: Islamic State militants seized parts of a key town in eastern Syria in a surprise attack.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack on Friday on al-bu Kamal included at least 10 suicide attackers and four car bombs.
In November, Syrian government forces and allied paramilitary groups retook control of al-bu Kamal, in the eastern oil-rich province of Deir al-zour, from Islamic State.
At least 18 Islamic State fighters, including the 10 suicide bombers, and 25 government soldiers were killed in Friday’s attack, the monitor said.
“This is the fiercest attack since the Islamic State lost the town,” said observatory head Rami Abdel-rahman.
Last year, Islamic State suffered a series of defeats, including the loss of their de facto capital, Raqqa, in Syria.
In recent months, Syrian forces, supported by Russian air power, have made major territorial gains against the Westbacked opposition and radical groups.
Meanwhile, the death toll in air strikes, believed to have been mounted by Russian jets on a rebel-held village in north-western Syria, had risen to 51, the observatory reported.
Nine children and 11 women were among the fatalities in the bombardment in Idlib province.
More than 60 people were also injured in the strikes that took place in the village of Zardana, the Britain-based watchdog added.
The death toll is the highest so far this year in a single air attack in Idlib, which is Syria’s largest rebel stronghold, according to the observatory.
The White Helmets rescue group said the planes had targeted a market near a mosque in Zardana on Thursday.
Idlib is largely controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-sham, an Islamist alliance led by an al-qaeda-linked group.
In recent months, Idlib has been the destination of thousands of rebels and their families displaced from other parts of war-ravaged Syria under evacuation deals with the government. – Dpa/african News Agency.ana