At last!
Syrian army thrusts into IS bastion province Raqa
Syrian troops pushed into the Islamic State group's bastion province Raqa on Saturday for the first time since 2014, in an advance towards the country's largest dam, a monitor said.
The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River, 40 kilometres upstream from Raqa city, is also the target of a separate offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish-led forces advancing from the north late last month.
"Regime troops backed by Russian air strikes and Russian-trained militia entered Raqa province on Saturday morning for the first time since August 2014,", Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The lightning advance from the southwest brought government troops to within less than 40 kilometres of Tabqa, which is also the site of an airbase, Abdel Rahman said.
"It seems there has been an undeclared coordination between Washington and Moscow," he added, referring to the pincer movement by the two governments' respective Syria allies.
At least 26 jihadists and nine government troops and militia were killed in the advance, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on reports from medics and activists on the ground.
Syrian army thrusts into IS bastion province Raqa
Syrian troops pushed into the Islamic State group's bastion province Raqa on Saturday for the first time since 2014, in an advance towards the country's largest dam, a monitor said.
The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates River, 40 kilometres upstream from Raqa city, is also the target of a separate offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish-led forces advancing from the north late last month.
"Regime troops backed by Russian air strikes and Russian-trained militia entered Raqa province on Saturday morning for the first time since August 2014,", Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
The lightning advance from the southwest brought government troops to within less than 40 kilometres of Tabqa, which is also the site of an airbase, Abdel Rahman said.
"It seems there has been an undeclared coordination between Washington and Moscow," he added, referring to the pincer movement by the two governments' respective Syria allies.
At least 26 jihadists and nine government troops and militia were killed in the advance, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on reports from medics and activists on the ground.