Syria troops gain ground against Daesh

beirut — The Syrian army and its allies made a sudden advance on Saturday and Sunday into areas held by Daesh in northwest Syria, a war monitor said, as the militant group retreated after losing the city of Al Bab to Turkey-backed rebels on Thursday.

On Sunday, the army also took the town of Tadef, just south of Al Bab after Daesh withdrew from it, state television reported. Earlier this month, a senior Russian official said Tadef marked an agreed dividing line between the Syrian army and the Turkeybacked forces.

The eastwards advance in an area south of Al Bab has extended Syrian army control across 14 villages and brought it within 25km of Lake Assad, the stretch of the Euphrates above the Tabqa dam.

Daesh’s holdings in northwest Syria have been eviscerated over recent months by successive advances by three different, rival forces: Syrian Kurdish groups backed by the United States, the Turkey-backed rebels, and the army.

By taking Daesh territory south of Al Bab, the army is preventing any possible move by Turkey and the rebel groups it supports to expand southwards, and is moving closer to regaining control of water supplies for Aleppo.

Fighting in the area is continuing as the Syrian army and its allies advance, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Sunday.

Daesh’s loss of Al Bab after weeks of bitter street fighting marks the militant group’s effective departure from northwest Syria, once one of its most fearsome strongholds, and an area of importance because of its location on the Turkish border. — Reuters