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Syrian regime forces regained control of the last group of South Africa's Islamic State group on Saturday, while one monitor said airstrikes killed dozens of people in the remaining jihadist pocket. in the east of the country.
More than seven years after the beginning of the civil war in Syria, many forces are fighting for the Islamic State to emerge from the last bits of its territory.
On Saturday, the regime's forces took over the southern area of Tulul al-Safa as jihadists retreated into the desert after months of fighting, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the Great -Britain.
The pro-government fighters regained control of the volcanic plateau between the provinces of Damascus and Sweida "after ISF fighters retreated from it and headed east into the Badia Desert. ", said the head of Rami Abdel Rahman Observatory.
The withdrawal would probably occur "in the context of an agreement with the regime's forces" after weeks of encirclement and air raids, he said.
In recent weeks, air strikes on the Tulul al-Safa pocket have multiplied and hundreds of regime fighters have been sent in reinforcements, the Observatory said.
According to the state-run SANA news agency, the regime's forces made "a big breakthrough at Tulul al-Safa" and said they were painting the area to look for the latest jihadists.
The victory brought the jihadist group's territorial control back to a single pocket in the east of the country, where it faces a separate assault on US-backed forces.
– Civilians killed in the far east? –
A Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by a US-led coalition has been fighting since September to expel ISIS from this far-eastern region near the Iraqi border.
The Observatory said Saturday morning's coalition air strikes on Abu al-Husn village, in Deir Ezzor province, had killed 43 people, including 36 family members of combatants. # 39; IE.
"This is the largest number of dead in coalition air strikes since the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched their attack on the Islamic State's pocket" in September, said Abdel Rahman .
Seventeen of those killed were children, he said, while seven of the dead were still unidentified.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition confirmed the strikes in the Abu Husn area, but said he did not harm non-combatants.
"No civilian casualties are associated with the strikes in question," spokesman Sean Ryan told AFP.
"The coalition is taking great steps to identify and strike the appropriate targets of the Islamic State in order to avoid non-combat losses," he said, using another acronym for IS.
According to the Observatory, coalition air strikes killed 234 civilians, including 82 children, since September 10, when the SDF launched the offensive on the southeast pillar of the SI.
625 jihadists were killed during strikes and clashes in the region during the same period.
The SDF aggression was slowed by a violent jihadist response and then briefly suspended to protest against Turkey's bombardment of Kurdish militia positions in northern Syria.
– 'cautious advance' –
SDS commander Redur Khalil said Saturday that operations were continuing.
"There has been a breakthrough on the ground in recent days, but it is a cautious advance due to the anti-personnel minefields, trenches, tunnels and barricades put in place by the ISE," he said. he told AFP.
ISIS invaded vast expanses of Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" over the lands it controlled.
But the jihadist group has since lost most of its activity following various offensives in both countries.
The regime's forces were fighting the IS in Tulul al-Safa since the deadly attack of a jihadist in July.
These fights killed 240 regime fighters and 420 jihadists from the Islamic State, the Observatory said.
During the attack of July 25, the IS killed more than 260 people, mostly civilians, during a wave of suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings at through the province of Sweida, during the bloodiest assault against the Druze minority of the war.
Adhering to a secret branch of Islam, the Druze are considered heretics by Sunni extremists of the IS.
The war in Syria has killed more than 360,000 people since its outbreak in 2011 with the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.
Since 2014, the US-led coalition has recognized the direct responsibility of more than 1,100 civilians killed in Syria and Iraq, but human rights groups have made many more casualties.
US-backed SDF members attend funeral on November 6, 2018 for fellow soldier killed in battle against ISIS group
Syrians displaced from Deir Ezzor and its environs travel on 15 November 2018 to a camp in Hassakeh province (north-east)
