Heavy clashes between Syria’s Army and the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor city have killed at least 73 fighters in the last 24 hours, a monitor said on Sunday.
Syria’s army controls most of Deir Ezzor city, Capital of Deir Ezzor province in the country’s east, and made further advances after responding to an ISIS attack that began yesterday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
The monitor said the fierce fighting Saturday killed at least 50 ISIS fighters, as well as 23 Syrian soldiers and pro- regime militiamen. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said government forces had captured two new neighbourhoods and the municipal stadium.
“ISIS is now encircled in an area between the city and the (Euphrates) river,” Abdel Rahman said.
ISIS once held large sections of Deir Ezzor city, and for nearly three years laid siege to other parts of it that remained under government control.
In early September, advancing Government forces broke the siege, and they have been working since to expel the jihadists from the rest of the city.