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SYRIAN government troops launched a new offensive to rid Aleppo province of Isis terrorists yesterday, taking a string of villages in the first hours.
Troops attacked along two intersecting axes into areas west of Maskanah, the last of the death cult’s strongholds in the province.
One force pushed south from the plains between Lake Jabboul and the River Euphrates, retaking 14 settlements.
The Jerusalem Brigade of Palestinian volunteers drove east from Khanaser on the vulnerable “Road of Life” from Aleppo to Salamiyah and the central city of Homs, taking the important Tal al-Alam hill.
In recent days, troops have seized several small villages around Maskanah on the west bank of the Euphrates in a bid to surround the town.
Further south, the army, supported by Russian troops, began a long-announced push to eliminate the Isis pocket east of Salamiyah.
But counterattacks by the jihadists have so far prevented any advance towards the primary objective of Uqayribat in the centre of the salient.
Further east, fighting continued between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and militants surrounded at the Baath Dam, downstream from the larger Tabqa Dam and 14 miles west of the Isis “capital” Raqqa.
On Thursday, a Syrian government armoured column, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas and Russian aircraft, advanced across open desert south of Palmyra.
Syrian Defence Ministry video footage showed clashes with extremists in the al-Abassiyah region 25 miles south of Palmyra as they moved outflank Isis defences along the main road to the besieged city of Deir Ezzor.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition issued more threats to Syrian government and allied forces fighting Free Syrian Army insurgents in the Badia region near the southern border.
Spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon said: “We have increased our presence and our footprint and prepared for any threat that is presented by the pro-regime forces” — including the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) militia fighting Isis around Mosul.
The PMU continued its southward push yesterday towards the Isis-held city of al-Qaim along the Syrian border.
The force has denied rumours that it crossed into SDF-held areas of Hassakeh province.
The SDF has said it would resist any PMU incursion.
