64 dead in Syria-ISIS fighting in 24 hours

Beirut, Aug. 30: Fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State group has killed 64 combatants in Raqa province over a 24-hour period, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.

The clashes come with the Army pressing an advance through Raqa, in northern Syria, towards neighbouring Deir Ezzor, the only remaining province of the war-ravaged country still in the hands of ISIS jihadists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the fighting had claimed the lives of 38 jihadists and 26 pro-regime combatants since Tuesday.

It takes to 145 the overall death toll in six days of fighting in villages on the banks of the Euphrates River in the east of Raqa province, near Deir Ezzor.

ISIS said in a statement on Tuesday that its members had killed dozens of regime combatants in “intense fighting lasting hours”.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said that the regime was fighting to secure a foothold in Raqa province.