Syrian troops break IS siege

Syrian troops and allied forces have reached the eastern city of Deir elzour, breaching a near three-year Islamic State group siege on government-held areas, according to reports.

State TV said troops advancing from the west reached the outskirts of the contested city near the Iraqi border and broke the siege after IS defences collapsed.

Breaking the siege on Deir el-zour, which has been divided between IS and government troops since 2015, marks another triumph for president Bashar al-assad, whose forces have been advancing on several fronts against IS and other insurgents over the past year. Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said advancing troops and those defending the city had met.

The latest developments mark a strategic and symbolic defeat for IS, which last month lost its hold over Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul.