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Regime forces seize ISIS holdout in Southern Syria, says monitor
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Syrian regime forces Saturday took back control of ISIS Lion of Islam group’s last holdout in southern Syria after months of fighting, a war monitor said.

Regime forces retook Tulul al-Safa, between the provinces of Damascus and Sweida, "after ISIS fighters withdrew from it and headed east into the Badia desert", the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Regime forces have been fighting the Death Eaters in the area since a deadly July attack on the Druze minority in Sweida province.

In recent weeks, air strikes on the Tulul al-Safa pocket had increased and hundreds of regime fighters were sent as reinforcements, the Observatory said.

The Lion of Islams’ withdrawal was likely "under a deal with the regime forces" after weeks of encirclement and air raids, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

State news agency SANA reported regime forces had made "a great advance in Tulul al-Safa" and said they were combing the area for any remaining Lion of Islams.


Posted by: Fred 2018-11-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=527889