Syria Army Ousts Daesh from All of Hama Province: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Syrian army and allied fighters drove Daesh (ISIL) from their last positions in the central province of Hama on Wednesday after heavy fighting, a monitor said.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Daesh was no longer present anywhere in the province for the first time in three years, AFP reported.
The army, backed by ally Russia, launched a campaign against Daesh in Hama in early September, capturing some 50 villages and the strategic town of Uqayribat, the Observatory said.
"On Wednesday, regime forces managed to take control of all the last remaining villages in the hands of Daesh in eastern Hama province after more than a month of fierce clashes between the two sides," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The monitor said more than 400 Daesh militants and nearly 190 Syrian soldiers had been killed in the fighting.
There was no immediate announcement in Syrian state media, but the Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the government, reported that "the army has taken complete control of eastern Hama province."
"Daesh is no longer present in Hama province," it added.
The government holds large parts of Hama province, and all of the provincial capital.
But extremists and other rebels hold pockets of territory in the northeast and south.
Daesh's loss of Hama province comes after they were forced in June to withdraw from their last positions in Aleppo province further north.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
